CSI Miami: Three: Ex Marks the Spot
by BlackRaven
Summary: Two kids are kidnapped and their nanny killed Horatio and his team must race the clock to catch the kidnappers before it's too late as the FBI are breathing down their neck! THIS IS IT! THE ENDING!Except from an Epilogue that is yet to come!
1. Prologue

Author's note:  
  
Ok - so this is the third episode of my CSI Miami series - and as per the request of my fans (all 2 of them) this is going to have a lot more action in it as well as a lot more insight into the relationship and the history between Horatio and Jamie as well as some development in the Speed/ Jamie front (as if you didn't know that was where I was headed!!!)  
  
So anyway.this chapter is especially important to me because this is the chapter I was kind of planning from the start - I just wanted to establish the characters in the first two chapters before I start with the whole personal history thing.  
  
So this time reviews are gonna be even more important because I really need to know what you think in order to decide if I'm going to do another episode - it's all up to you people - you decide if this little continuing saga is going to come to an end or not.  
  
Let me know!  
  
Hope you enjoy this and have fun reading it!  
  
*  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
"Hey, I'll have an omelet and some coffee" Speed told the waitress as he sat down in the side booth of the small diner "I see you already started without me."  
  
"Sorry" Jamie smiled and took another bite of her omelet talking with a full mouth "I was hungry"  
  
"I can see that" He smirked. He leaned when the waitress came by and waited while she poured his coffee. Jamie eyed him with a smirk over her plate as she continued eating.  
  
"So you call me at 5 am." Speed started as soon as the waitress was gone  
  
"I'm sorry did I wake you?" Jamie gave him a smile that would have looked innocent if it wasn't for the mischievous gleam in her eyes.  
  
"No I was playing Hockey." He retorted sarcastically, causing her to laugh "So you wake me up at 5 am, asking me to have breakfast with you and then you go ahead and start with out me."  
  
"Well I called you because I hate eating alone" Jamie finished off her plate and took a sip out of her coffee  
  
"And you started without me because???"  
  
"You were late!"  
  
*  
  
"So what do we have here?" Horatio asked as he knelt down next to Alexx.  
  
"Female, mid twenties, seems like a blunt force trauma to the head" Alexx started giving him the particulars of the case "Time of death is about 3 or 4 hours ago"  
  
Horatio checked his watch "Well it's 12 pm right now, so that means she was killed at about 8 or 9 am"  
  
He looked around and surveyed the scene around them. They were in the outskirts of a public park, a few yards from them he could see a playground filled with children and mothers all going about their businesses. The road was a few feet away to the other side, every once in a while a car would drive by.  
  
He got up and put on his sunglasses, still looking around but this time at his team - picking up evidence around them "So how does a young woman gets killed in a public park in broad daylight with no one seeing a thing?"  
  
"Horatio!" He heard Speed call him and walked over to where him and Jamie were crouching, inspecting something closely.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"This is" Jamie said gravely, showing him a bag and pulling out a doll out of it.  
  
"This is her bag" Speed explained, "It's filled with toys and kids stuff"  
  
"You think she was here praying on kids?" Horatio asked, directing his attention at Jamie, looking on as she looked around the scene and absorbed everything in  
  
"No H, I think she was here WITH kids" 


	2. Part 1

Part 1  
  
"Ok Horatio We found a wallet in the bag so we have an ID on our victim" Detective Hagen said as he made his way towards Horatio showing him a Miami drivers license "Jasmine Blake, 27, she has a car parked at the other side of the park"  
  
"Excuse me?" A woman asked from the other side of the police line, where some of the park's visitors were already gathering, "Did I hear you talk about Jasmine? Jasmine Blake?"  
  
"Yes ma'am, do you know her?" Horatio and Hagen stepped closer to her  
  
"Yeah. She comes here sometimes on Saturdays, we talk while the kids play." She nodded "Where are Kyle and Annie?"  
  
"Kyle and Annie?" Hagen scribbled something in his notebook  
  
"The kids" the woman said urgently "Jasmine is a nanny, she takes care of two kids - Kyle and Annie, they're 10 and 8! You mean they are not here!?"  
  
Horatio exchanged a look with Hagen and them stepped off and headed back to the center of the crime scene "Ok people! Listen up! This is no longer a murder scene - this is a kidnapping! We have two missing kids - a boy and a girl! The first 48 hours are critical , so we're on a clock here! Let's get to work! There are no other cases in Miami today!!!"  
  
He watched as everybody nodded gravely and went back to work then went over to Jamie and pulled her aside.  
  
"Listen James" He kept his voice low "We Have to work fast here, cause you and I both know what happens in about 5 hours from now"  
  
"Yeah" Jamie nodded "the feds roll into town and the shit hits the fan"  
  
Just then they were joined by Calleigh, Erik and Speed and Horatio started giving them all their orders "Speed I want you to stay here and go over everything, pull out the grass if you have to but get me something - anything. And lets broaden the crime scene by another few meters. Erik you take the victim's car - maybe we'll find something there. Calleigh you go with Jamie, she knows what to do."  
  
With a nod they all disbursed to do their work.  
  
*  
  
Speed finished taking pictures of the victim and watched while Alexx and her people zipped her up in a body bag and loaded her into the coroner's car. He took a deep breath and started looking around. He traced his steps back to the point where they found the bag and looked again - the park was separated into areas by pavement paths that ran through it - one of the paths running right next to the crime scene. He walked over to it and walked a few steps until her finally noticed a marking on the pavement.  
  
"What have you got there Speed?"  
  
Speed looked up and saw John Hagen standing over him, looking over his shoulder "It seems like a footprint" Speed indicated at the imprint on the pavement "looks like blood too"  
  
He placed a ruler next to the imprint for scale and then bent down and used a Q-tip to collect a sample.  
  
*  
  
"You found anything Delko?" Horatio leaned against the car and looked inside where Erik was hunched over the seats, shining into the upholstery with a flash light  
  
"Nothing yet" Erik replied "A lot of snack wrappings, some kids toys, license and registration, a cell phone, nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe I could get something off the cell phone - see who she's been calling. Do we know who she worked for yet?"  
  
"Yes we just got a name. The Summers family, I'm on my way there now. Keep going, let me know what you find"  
  
*  
  
"So what are we doing here?" Calleigh asked as she and Jamie stood a few feet away from the crime scene and looked at the scene unfold before them. She could see the police officers interviewing possible witnesses to one side as the CSI workers were busy combing the area around where the body used to lay - looking for evidence.  
  
"Well, basically I need someone to bounce ideas off" Jamie smiled sheepishly and looked apologetically at Calleigh "Sorry you had to be the one. I usually do this alone but we're on a time schedule here and I need to organize all the information in my head in a hurry.Sorry you had to baby- sit."  
  
"No it's ok!" Calleigh laughed, "Go ahead! Do your thing!"  
  
"Ok, so we have a nanny with two kids coming to the park on a Saturday morning so the kids could play. And we have a guy who wants to kidnap the children" Jamie started musing out loud and Calleigh could almost see the wheels turning in her head. "So we have two possibilities: One - he knows these kids, he follows them here and grabs them"  
  
"Ok" Calleigh started to run with Jamie's line of thinking "So he's after the ransom, he takes the kids hold them for a couple of days then makes his demands and tries to run off with the cash"  
  
"Yeah, I don't think so" Jamie said gravely "If he's after the quick cash then why this place? I mean it's public, it's broad day light, it's the worst place for a kidnapping! And if he knew their pattern, if he knew their schedule then he would do anything to avoid this place - anything!"  
  
"What are you saying James?" Calleigh asked, getting a sick feeling in the bottom of her stomach.  
  
"I'm saying I don't think this is about ransom"  
  
Jamie suddenly started running towards Speed who was busy tagging some evidence at the other end of the crime scene "Speed! we have to look for a nest!" 


	3. Part 2

Part 2  
  
Horatio waited patiently as John Hagen talked to Mr. And Mrs. Summers in the living room, through the glass door he could hear their muffled cries and sobs. He waited until Hagen gave him a sign before making his entrance and joined them in the living room.  
  
"Mr. And Mrs. Summers I'm very sorry about this. I promise you we're doing everything we can to find your children and bring them home safely." He said quietly "Now we're going to need your full cooperation, we need to get as much information as we can."  
  
"Shouldn't the FBI be involved here?" the father asked, his voice shaking slightly  
  
"they're going to be here soon" Horatio assured them "but the first 48 hours are critical and we can't waist any time. We need to check your house and your garden - the kidnappers might have been watching you for a while"  
  
"You think they were here? At our house?" the mother asked in terror  
  
"It's a possibility" Horatio reached out and placed a hand over hers in comfort "the important thing for us right now is to stay calm because I need you to think really hard. I need you to think if you've seen anything unusual the last couple of weeks - anything! A guy looking at you funny in the supermarket, a stranger talking to your kids - anything out of the ordinary."  
  
*  
  
"What do you mean not about ransom? Where are we going?" Calleigh asked as the two of them got into the hummer and started leaving the park.  
  
"Like I said, if it was about ransom he wouldn't have picked the park to grab the kids"  
  
"Ok. So what do you think this is about?"  
  
"I think this is random and I think it has nothing to do with money" Jamie kept her eyes on the road she drove them down the road and towards the freeway.  
  
"OK, I'm listening"  
  
"There's another possibility for any child kidnapping it's not a pretty one but it's there. Let's assume for a minute this guy didn't have the opportunity to grab the kids somewhere else simply because he didn't know these kids. He wasn't looking for them - he was waiting in the park for the right kids to show up and then made his move!"  
  
"So that's why Speed is out there right now looking for a nest!" realization hit Calleigh "but if he doesn't know these kids what does he want with them? And where are we going?"  
  
"We're going to the county jail - it's time to do some research!"  
  
*  
  
"What are we looking for again Speedle?" Hagen asked as the two of them along with another uniformed officer were going through the bushes that surrounded the crime scene  
  
"Jamie said to look for a nest"  
  
"A nest?" Hagen asked, confused.  
  
"Somewhere our kidnapper might have been sitting and waiting for these kids." he trailed off when he leaned in to examine the ground closely "Here we go."  
  
"You got something?" Hagen asked as he joined him  
  
Speed pulled out a pair of tweezers and picked up a piece of fabric from between the branches of the bush, he was tagging it into an evidence bag when he noticed a hair in on one of the leafs and picked that up too.  
  
"See that shape in the ground?" Speed explained as he stepped back to take a picture "that means he was lying here - he was waiting here for a while before the kids showed up. We have our nest!  
  
He turned back and faced the crime scene - from this location he had a perfect view of the crime scene. And a perfect view of where the kids must have been playing next to their nanny.  
  
"Damn" Speed exclaimed and shook his head  
  
"What?" Hagen asked as he noticed a small smile appear on Speed's smile  
  
"Nothing I just hate it when she's right"  
  
*  
  
"Ok Alexx tell me what we've got!" Horatio's voice came through the microphone and Alexx looked up to see him standing next to the screens at the observation deck  
  
"Well cause of death was a single blow to the head, shattered her skull and killed her almost instantly but not immediate" Alexx replied. "it seems like she put up a fight, I found some skin under her fingernails, it's on the way to the DNA lab"  
  
"Alexx do me a favor zoom in on her hands, the palms of her hands please" He waited until the image became clear and looked at it closely "Now what are those?"  
  
"Seems like scratches" Alexx frowned "Maybe our kidnapper fought back?"  
  
"Those aren't from the attacker, she got those when she was crawling on the ground"  
  
"Well that would explain the dirt in the wounds" Alexx nodded "where was she crawling?"  
  
"She was trying to get to somewhere, or to someone!"  
  
*  
  
"Ok, Call, listen." Jamie turned to Calleigh hesitantly as soon as she stopped the hummer in the county jail parking lot "I need you not to tell Horatio about this."  
  
"Ok Jamie, you're going to have to explain to me what's going on here!" Calleigh said sternly, giving her partner a look that demanded and explanation - and demanded one right that minute.  
  
"Ok" Jamie sighed "the second option when dealing with a child kidnapping is sexual predators. But there's more then that, usually when the kidnapping is organized it's about the black market - selling kids for child pornography or pedophiles who want a child sex slave."  
  
"And you think this is what's happening here?"  
  
"In order to know that I need to meet a guy that's in here" She pointed to the jail "and that is the part you can't tell Horatio"  
  
"Why not?" Calleigh frowned  
  
"Because Horatio and I put this guy in there in the first place. He was on the buying end of the deal - a kid went missing then turned up dead 4 month later. Billy Sacker bought him in the black market - but he wasn't satisfied with the product so he killed him a couple of month after he got him. If Horatio found out this is where I was getting my information - he would go through the roof"  
  
"If you're the one who put him away - then why would he talk to you?"  
  
Jamie looked away from Calleigh and out of the window - not wanting to meet the other woman's eyes when she made her next admission "Cause I wasn't exactly the one who put him away. Horatio was. I was green and pretty arrogant and I thought the evil men come with evil faces. I believed him Sacker and almost allowed him to walk - Horatio was the one who went after him from the start." She turned back to face Calleigh "Sacker always had this crazy notion that because I believed him at the beginning it meant that I understood him - that I was somehow agreeing with what he was doing."  
  
"And you think this guy can help us?" Calleigh sounded skeptical  
  
"These sellers and dealers are a very close knit group. If this was done by someone in the business - Sacker is going to know who it was!"  
  
Calleigh took a moment to consider her options, eyeing Jamie closely. Finally she smiled and nodded "Ok my lips are sealed - let's go do our research" 


	4. Part 3

Ok - even though I'm not really getting any reviews which means I don't really know if anyone is reading this at all - I'm still going to go on an keep writing this story - if for no other reason then the fact that I already have , like, the next 5 chapters already written and ready.. But I do wish someone would tell me what they think of it!!!! I really could use the input!!!  
  
Anyway as always - have fun and enjoy!  
  
PART 3  
  
"What are you working on?" Erik asked speed as he got in the lab with a bag of evidence of his own  
  
"I have a bloody footprint on the path - might be the killer's. What about you?"  
  
"Well the car turned out empty. I got the victim's clothe from Alexx" as he talked he emptied the bag on the examination table and started spreading it around. For a few minutes the two men worked in slience.  
  
"Ok this is interesting" Erik exclaimed after a while just as Horatio walked into the lab  
  
"Share with me Erik"  
  
"One day H, you're going to have to tell us how you manage to show up every time we find something out" Speed smirked, earning a small smile from Horatio and a snicker from Erik. He joined the other two at the table and waited for Erik to explain his latest finding.  
  
"Well, these clothes are all wrong" Erik started "this girl was a nanny, going out to the park with two kids. But these clothes are expensive - all brand names, the hand bag is "Prada" the jewelry are all solid gold - ring, necklace, earrings. Plus underwear - lace, expensive not exactly what you wear for a day in the park with the kids."  
  
"And one day you're going to have to explain to us how you know so much about women's clothing" Speed teased again  
  
"Hey I live with 3 sisters ok? You pick up a few things!" Erik defended himself with a smile. Horatio smiled slightly at the bantering - it was their way of letting off steam, reliving the tension. He knew very well that it didn't mean they were any less committed or any less interested in finding the criminals - it was a way of dealing with the daily horrors they encountered.  
  
"I noticed something else H" Speed turned back to business "the victim was well kept, her nails were done, her hair was dyed recently, red lipstick - the whole nine yards"  
  
"So we have a nanny living way over her budget, dressing way too nicely for a day in the park" Horatio paced as he tried to put everything together  
  
"Maybe she was meeting her boyfriend - that would explain the fancy underwear" Erik tried  
  
"Maybe she was meeting our kidnapper." Horatio upped the stakes  
  
*  
  
"Hey Billy" Jamie greeted with a smile once the man was brought in and seated in front of her "This is my partner Calleigh Duquesne. How are you Billy?"  
  
"Jamie Sullivan, well I'll be damned" the guy smiled and Calleigh couldn't help but notice how normal he appeared - just a regular man off the street "It's been a long time"  
  
"Yes it has Billy. How's life on the inside? I'm betting this facility doesn't really provides you with the kind of entertainment you are particularly fond of?"  
  
"Well, it's not that I don't appreciate a visit from an old friend but I'm guessing there is a reason you came in to seem me" the guy asked, still smiling.  
  
"I kinda need your help Billy, you see one of your sick little friends picked up a few trophies this morning. You wouldn't know anything about that now would you?"  
  
"Now how would I know anything about that? I'm here, locked away where I can't cause any harm to society"  
  
"Come one Billy, work with me here" Jamie leaned over the desk and got closer to the man "You know those nice living arrangements you have here? Single cell, out of general population - you know I can change all of that in a second"  
  
"You do know what they do to pedophiles in prison Mr. Sacker?" Calleigh joined in  
  
"Look, I don't know anything Ok?" the man was suddenly getting nervous  
  
"I need you to give me some names. I'm betting there are only a hand full of guy who deal with this - shall we say "unique" type of merchandise. Who would I go to if I wanted to sell a kid Billy?"  
  
"Look, I don't know exactly. These people aren't exactly going around giving out their real names."  
  
"Write down what you know" Calleigh slid over a pad and a pen towards him  
  
"One more thing Billy, I need you to tell me how it's done" Jamie said as the man started writing.  
  
"Tell you how what is done?"  
  
"The whole transaction - who finds the kids, when does the merchandise exchange hands, how long after the grab, everything."  
  
"I only bought the kids I don't know all the details"  
  
"Tell us what you do know" Jamie leaned back in her chair and waited as Billy Sacker took a deep breath and started telling them all he knew  
  
*  
  
Speed lifted his eyes from the pages of analysis he was going over and saw Horatio coming down the hall. He picked up his stuff and headed out the door in a hurry.  
  
"Hey H" Speed quickly caught up and fell in step with his boss "I have something here that doesn't fit"  
  
"What is it Speed?"  
  
"I analyzed the blood from the footprint we found at the crime scene" Speed handed him the report "I found two blood samples - I ran a DNA test and matched one of the samples to our victim"  
  
"What about the other one?"  
  
"That's the interesting part. It isn't human"  
  
"Not human?"  
  
"It's cow's blood" Speed shrugged at him "I also found traces of manure along with the blood"  
  
"Manure and cow's blood?"  
  
"Hey H" Erik came running up to them "I got the phone logs off of Jasmine Blake's cell phone and one of the names kept popping up so I went on a limb and checked out the guy's credit card bill - all of the jewelry, the "Prada" bag - it's all charged to his card."  
  
"Guess we found ourselves the boyfriend"  
  
*  
  
CSI Interrogation room  
  
"So you are Mr. Peter Walker" Horatio sat down in front of a the man who appeared to be in his late thirties. He noted the expensive business suit and the leather briefcase as well as the gold band wedding ring on the man's finger.  
  
"Do you know a girl named Jasmine Blake?"  
  
"No, never heard of her" the man replied, a little too fast for Horatio's liking.  
  
"Maybe this will jog your memory" Horatio placed a picture of the victim that was taken at the morgue in front of the man and looked closely for his reaction. The man looked at the picture and flinched slightly - quickly composing himself and pushing the picture back across the table towards Horatio.  
  
"She looks familiar - I might have seen her around. I don't know"  
  
"You more then just saw her around Mr. Walker" Horatio stood up and started pacing around the table "Phone records from her cell phone show that she called you repeatedly and your credit card statements tell us you've been buying her some pretty expensive gifts. So Mr. Walker - do you think you want to revise your statement?"  
  
"Ok, yes I knew her." The man finally gave in  
  
"You had an affair with her" Horatio stated the obvious  
  
"She was a nice girl, we met at the park, we went out a few times, I bought her some things"  
  
"You don't seem to be very sad about her death" Horatio leaned in closer to the guy "Were you by any chance at the park today?"  
  
"I am sorry that she died. Look I liked her, I wasn't in love with her but I liked her. I was supposed to meet her there at 10" the man sighed, "We usually met there and spent some time together."  
  
"And today?"  
  
"I take my daughter out to the park - that's usually my excuse for going there and meeting with Jasmine. This morning my daughter wasn't feeling well. I had to take her to the doctor's - I never had a chance to let Jasmine know I wasn't coming"  
  
*  
  
"You ok?" Calleigh asked Jamie as they made their way into the Miami Dade crime lab building together "you've been pretty quiet since we left the jail!?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Brought back some memories that's all" Jamie shrugged and pushed the door open, stepping inside the cool building.  
  
"Hey where were you two?" Speed came down the hall "you missed out on all the action"  
  
"We were following up on some stuff" Jamie quickly lied and didn't miss the look Speed gave her. It slightly surprised her - that even after such a short time working with her he could tell when she was lying but that thought was interrupted when Horatio appeared.  
  
"How did it go with the boyfriend?" Speed asked  
  
"The boyfriend?" Jamie and Calleigh both asked in confusion  
  
"The very married boyfriend who also has an air tight alibi - he's not our guy" Horatio sighed "What do you have for me James?"  
  
"I don't think the nanny was in on it" Jamie reported "I think this was random, pedophile market related"  
  
"You mean these kids are going to be sold to some sicko for his porno collection?" Speed asked  
  
"Something like that" Jamie nodded  
  
"Here is what we're going to do." Horatio's next sentence was interrupted when the doors to the building were opened and 3 men in dark business suits came into the building. "And the feds go marching in" Speed whispered under his breath as he moved to stand slightly behind Horatio, waiting as the 3 men made their approach. To his surprise the lead man didn't go straight to Horatio - instead he headed right to Jamie.  
  
"Well, well, well you look great as always J" He greeted with a sly smile  
  
"Bailey" Jamie smiled back somewhat uncomfortably "Not surprised to see you here"  
  
The guy then turned his attention to Horatio "Horatio Cain! How charming to see you two working together again."  
  
"Agent Evans why don't I get you up to speed?" Horatio said as nicely as he could through slightly clenched teeth "In my office"  
  
As the four men disappeared in the direction of Horatio's office all eyes turned towards Jamie for an explanation  
  
"Yeah" she said uncomfortably "Me and agent Evans kind if have a history."  
  
"What kind of history?" Calleigh asked with a smile, her southern drawl even more evident then usual  
  
"He's my ex-boyfriend" 


	5. Part 4

PART 4  
  
"So.." Calleigh said once she and Jamie were alone in the lab, trying to sound nonchalant  
  
"If you have a question Call, just ask it" Jamie said somewhat impatiently as she busied herself by spreading the various pictures from the crime scene on the illuminated table.  
  
"I was just wondering about you and Agent Evans, he seems to have a little problem with Horatio too" Calleigh leaned against the table. "Anything you want to share?"  
  
"I'm guessing there are rumors." Jamie couldn't help but smile slightly  
  
"Some" Calleigh smiled back "But I never listen to them."  
  
"Well you should have this time" Jamie sighed and leaned back in her chair "Bailey and I were dating at Quantico. Then the bomber case happened and I got assigned here for a while. I was young and inexperienced, Horatio had just gotten a divorce from his wife. We kind of mistook mutual admiration and loneliness into something else - things kind of happened. It took us four month to come to our senses and realize what we were doing and we broke it off"  
  
"I'm guessing Bailey didn't take it that well" Calleigh commented  
  
"Not really - technically when I left for Miami Bailey and I were still together. He's actually a nice guy it's just that he thinks I cheated on him with Horatio, he thinks Horatio is the reason we broke up. He's not that wrong."  
  
*  
  
"So Horatio, we finally get a chance to work together" Bailey paced the office as Horatio took a seat behind his desk  
  
"Yes" Horatio tried to ignore the sting in the other man's voice "I'll have all the files handed over to you so you can get up to speed on everything."  
  
"I want my team to go over the evidence again." Bailey sat down in one of the chairs  
  
"I have some very good CSI's on my team, some of the best there are" Horatio couldn't stop himself but insert a little dig of his own "I'm sure you're very familiar with some of their talents."  
  
Bailey covered a small smile before continuing "I wasn't trying to diminish your team Cain, it wouldn't hurt for another set of eyes to have a look - that's all I'm saying."  
  
Horatio considered for a second but knew that he had no chance of winning this argument - the FBI had jurisdiction on all kidnapping cases, and there was nothing he could do but play along. He finally nodded and Bailey got up from his seat.  
  
"I'm heading off to the Summers house to check on our set up there - I'll see you later Cain"  
  
*  
  
"Hey H" Speed called out from his place next to the computer screen "Where are the feds?"  
  
"They went to put a tap on the Summers phone and check out the house" Horatio said as he joined him.  
  
"I thought we were going with the black market theory?"  
  
"We're just making sure all our bases are covered, don't worry about it" Horatio shook his head "What are you working on?"  
  
"Well the stuff I got off the shoe imprint - I've been trying to think where it could have come from. I figured that maybe if we find out where this guy was coming from we might be able to find out where he went to"  
  
"Good thinking" Horatio said thoughtfully, scanning the screen.  
  
"So I started with the cow blood. I thought - slaughter houses, butcher shops, meat factories. I have them all marked here on the map" Speed indicated to the screen "Now the manure is a whole different matter, I was thinking "the shit factor"."  
  
Horatio smiled "Go on."  
  
"Well animal's droppings turn into manure in time - so I'm thinking someplace old. A factory that was closed down, a slaughterhouse the went out of business. It's going to take me some time to narrow it down though" Speed sighed  
  
"Good work Speed" Horatio got up and placed and encouraging hand on the young man's shoulder "Keep me posted"  
  
He went out and started heading down the hall, passing by he could see Erik hard at work analyzing something under the microscope. He kept going to one of the other labs where he found Calleigh in front of her computer looking up some information.  
  
"Where's Jamie?"  
  
"She went over to get a cup of coffee" Calleigh explained quickly "We think we might have a few leads on our buyers and dealers"  
  
*  
  
Jamie walked into the brake room and stopped at the doorway when she saw Bailey sitting at the desk and going over some files. She considered turning around - making a quick brake before he noticed her - but he sudden;y lifted his head and smiled directly at her.  
  
"How long are you planning to stand there in the doorway?"  
  
"Sorry" she walked all the way in and reached for the coffee pot "I forgot about your spider senses" She did forget about Bailey's little special talent - some how he just knew when someone was approaching him, or even just looking at him - she used to try and sneak up on him and surprise him back when they were together - but it never worked.  
  
"So I have to say I wasn't really surprised to hear you left the task force and came back here."  
  
"Don't start with that Bay, it had nothing to do with Horatio, I just needed a change of pace." She sat down in front of him with her cup of coffee in her hands  
  
"It's ok J, it doesn't matter" he shook his head and switched the topic of conversation back to business "So you really think this is about a sale for kiddie porn?"  
  
*  
  
"Well, the child trading business is pretty tricky. Usually the kids are from some third world country where it's harder to keep track of these things - kids are smuggled in here from Cuba, Mexico, Brazil.and Miami is perfect for that because it's close and the access for smugglers is fairly easier then other places" Calleigh started explaining to Horatio, showing him the different case files she turned up on her computer search "they usually don't take kids from here - it's too risky."  
  
"The kids know English, they might recognize where they are or someone they know." Horatio followed Calleigh's train of thoughts  
  
*  
  
"Usually the way it goes down is the client goes on a vacation out of the country, the kidnappers arrange for the kid to be ready there and a week later the happy man comes back with a brand new son of daughter - what ever his preference is"  
  
"But this happened here! In the US! So how does that fit our vacation theory?" Bailey started taking some notes  
  
"This is where it gets a little tricky."  
  
*  
  
"We think this is a deal gone wrong - we think the dealer or seller or who ever he I, had an order, an order he had to fill in a hurry. He needed kids with these special features and he had to get his hands on them quickly - that's why he didn't go into the details of the location, the dead nanny which is an obvious detour from the plan - all of it." Calleigh said adamantly "We're looking at a crime that should have been pre-meditated but everything looks as if it was left to chance."  
  
*  
  
"Nothing about this morning was planed - if this guy is a pro he left way to much evidence and if he isn't then he wouldn't have chosen this grab to be his first. It's doesn't look like a pre-meditated crime because it isn't Bailey - it's a crime of opportunity" Jamie got up from her seat and threw her empty paper cup into the trashcan.  
  
"Ok so if he has a buyer he need the kids to be alive. He might not have made the transaction yet which means he's holding these kids somewhere, for a while anyway" Bailey said as he got to his feet and collected his files from the desk, following Jamie out of the brake room and heading over to the lab. "Maybe we have a chance to find them before he kids reach the real creep, before."  
  
"Yeah, maybe." 


	6. Part 5

Erik opened an evidence bag and used a pair of tweezers to take out the hair Speed found at the kidnapper's nest. He cut a small piece of it and placed it in a small tube, he then dowsed it with solution. He took the small tube and placed it in the analyzer.  
  
A few second later the results came back and he grabbed the page out of the machine and he walked over to the computer and fed the results into the database. He waited for a few moments as various mug shots and names ran across the screen - finally stopping on a mug shot and a name. He quickly grabbed the printout and headed out of the lab and into one of the other rooms where Horatio, Speed and Bailey Evens were assembled.  
  
"Hey guys I think I have something" He announced as he got in "Well the DNA from under the victim's fingernails wasn't enough to run a search through the database but I got a DNA sample from the hair and it ran it through the sex offenders database - I have a match here, someone named Leroy Hitchcomb - he has a prior for a sexual offense for shooting kiddie porn and the 2 DNA samples have 7 points of overlap"   
  
He passed the printout over to Horatio so he could have a look, Bailey peered over Horatio's shoulder and took a look himself.  
  
"There's no known address, no place of employment..." Bailey said in disappointment  
  
"Wait a second..." Speed suddenly shot up "Did you say Hitchcomb?..."  
  
He cleared a path to the computer and pulled up the map he was working on earlier, quickly hitting some keys and pulling out some information, finally finding what he was looking for "I knew it sounded familiar - there's an old slaughter house on the old industrial district "Hitchcomb Meats" it's been closed down for over 20 years now but the warehouse is still there..."  
  
"Who owns the building?" Horatio keened in closer, looking over Speed's shoulder  
  
"Let me check..." speed pressed a few more keys and pulled up the county real-estate ownership records. "The ownership is under the name of Barry Hitchcomb...let me put pull up the record on this guy..." He pressed a few more keys as everyone held their breath "Here we go... Barry Hichcomb, deceased February 2000, next of kin - son Leroy Hitchcomb!!!"  
  
"We've got him!"   
  
*  
  
Jamie and Speed were sitting quietly on the hood of the hummer, beside them Erik and Calleigh were sitting on a bench, talking among them selves. It was getting late and the skies were starting to get dark, a cold breeze was finally braking the heat of the day and cooling the temperatures. A few blocks up the street a swarm of police cars were parked around a large building and people were running around like bees in a frenzy.   
  
"It looks like the SWAT team are just about ready to storm the building..." Speed lamented to no one in particular  
  
The other didn't answer - there was nothing to say. This wasn't their part. Right now all they could do is just sit down and wait for the police to clear the building. What ever they would find inside the place, whether it be the missing kids, or something else - it would be their job to then figure it out.  
  
Horatio stood outside the police car along with agent Evans and some other FBI agents. He watched as the SWAT team took their positions around their building - 15 men unit on the ground, 10 on the front, 5 from the back, 2 snipers were already positioned on the roof.   
  
They have been monitoring the activity inside the building for the past 15 minutes - but there was nothing. Finally they decided to storm inside...  
  
*  
  
15 MINUTES LATER  
  
"All clear!" The team leader announced as he came out of the building "We have a dead body inside!"  
  
"Someone put up a fight?" Bailey questioned  
  
"No, he was dead when we got here" The team leader answered "no sign of the kids either"  
  
"Captain, I want your men out of there ASAP" Horatio joined the conversation "Tell them not to touch anything, not the dead body, nothing. It's time for my people to start going over the scene"  
  
"I want my people to take a look first" Bailey tried to interject  
  
"My team is already here, they're ready and waiting" Horatio said sternly, lifting his cell phone and pressing a button on his speed dial "You want your people? Sure! They can join us when they get here..."  
  
He turned away from Agent Evans as the phone was picked up on the other end "The coast is clear, let's go"  
  
A few blocks away Speed closed his cell and the four teammates got into their hummers and drove to the scene.  
  
*  
  
Speed entered the building carefully, looking at his surroundings. The lower floor was pretty much one large room, he could still see where the hooks were once attached to the ceiling and where the machines were once bolted to the cement floors. The room had a slop to it - the floor seemed to be leaning to the right.  
  
"It's for the blood - so it would drain through the drain holes over there" Calleigh volunteered as she came up behind them.   
  
The place was mostly empty - a large mattress, a table and a few chairs were scattered around the place, some of them turned over.  
  
Over to the right he could see a flight of stairs that led to the upper level where Speed could make out an office of some sorts. Over to the left was a another flight of stairs that led to the seller -where the refrigerator rooms were. He walked down the 3 steps that led to the main hall of the building where he saw Alexx already crouching next to the body.  
  
"What do we have here Alexx?" Speed asked as he crouched next to her as she examined the victim who was lying face down on the floor of what was once a slaughterhouse  
  
"I don't know yet. Give me a hand here"   
  
Together the carefully turned the body over on it's back "He looks familiar" Speed sighed as he looked at the man's face - recognizing Leroy Hitchcomb "There goes our only lead"  
  
"He has some scratches here on his neck" Alexx started surveying the body "Probably from Jasmine Blake"  
  
"Do we have a cause of death yet Alexx?" Horatio came over from behind them  
  
"It looks like a couple of gun shots to the chest. One is still inside, one looks like a through and through"  
  
"Looks like a medium calibar" Calleigh joined in, peering at the wound "Maybe a 32 or a 45. I should probably look for the through and through in one of these walls"  
  
"I have a computer here!" Speed called out from the other   
  
"What's that smell?" Horatio suddenly asked and everybody lifted their heads and started sniffing the air  
  
"Smells like fire" Erik frowned  
  
Horatio pulled on a pair of latex gloves and started walking through the building, looking for the source of the smell. He realized after a few seconds that the smell was coming from the upper floor so he slowly made his way upstairs. He came into what used to be the managers office but saw nothing so he kept on going to the other door which led to what used to be common room - attached to a small kitchen.  
  
He took a look and saw a small trail of coming out of a trashcan that stood in the sink. He quickly tried to put down what was left of the flames and took out the remains of scorched paper that were in the can.   
  
"What have you got there H?" Erik asked as he appeared behind him  
  
"Some paper that someone went to a lot of trouble to make sure we wouldn't see" Horatio reached out and Erik handed him a plastic evidence bag where he carefully placed the fragile remains of the paper. "Get that to the lab would you?"  
  
Erik nodded and started going over the room as Horatio made his way downstairs and out of the building, wanting to have a word with the SWAT team members who were the first ones to enter the building.  
  
*  
  
"Hey Speed. I've got something here" Alexx called out to him as she reached down under the body. She found a set of keys and showed it to Speed who came closer, taking them from her hand.  
  
"It seems broken" he said, looking closer at the car alarm remote that seemed to be slightly broken, as if someone stepped on it. Jamie came over and took a look over his shoulder as he turned it in his hand "that's weird... there's a car alarm but there aren't any car keys"   
  
"Because that isn't a car alarm" Jamie said gravely, her voice suddenly sounding ice cold "That's an FBI panic button! SONOFABITCH!"  
  
??  
  
(footnote continued) 


	7. Part 6

PART 6  
  
"YOU LOUSY! EGOTISTICAL! SON OF A BITCH!!!" Jamie stormed right up to Bailey, screaming at him at the top of her lungs. People were turning their heads to look at them, but she didn't care. "YOU KNEW!!! YOU KNEW AND YOU SAID NOTHING!!!"  
  
"Jamie?" Horatio placed a hand on Jamie's shoulder as he approached them, mainly because he was worried that in about a minute she would lung at his throat "what's going on?"  
  
"Leroy Hitchcomb has an FBI issued panic button disguised as a car alarm remote on his key chain" She told him, still shooting daggers at Agent Evans "He was working for the feds"  
  
Horatio felt the rage boil up in his stomach as he turned to face Evans, coming closer to him until he was standing right in the man's face "You knew? You knew who this man was?" He asked very slowly through clenched teeth. "We could have gotten here hours ago.."  
  
"Look, I didn't know anything about it, and even if I did there are procedures to follow in these cases" Bailey fumbled for words "I didn't know who this guy was..."  
  
"You'd better not" Horatio said menacingly "Cause I swear to god if it turns out we were too late getting here because you and your stupid procedures - I am personally going to make sure this is going to be the last case of your career"   
  
With that Horatio stormed off and went back into the building, leaving Jamie standing next to Bailey, still sending him an evil glare.  
  
"Look J, I swear to you I didn't know..." Bailey tried to explain but she stepped away from him, refusing to listen  
  
"It's Jamie! And don't even try it Bailey! Don't even try! I'm not stupid Bailey! I went to the same academy as you did and I know the procedure just like you do! Even if you didn't know who Hitchcomb was at first you knew before we got here because you ran his name through the FBI database way before we ever entered the building! And don't tell me you didn't - cause I know you - and you're too good of an agent not to have done that!"  
  
For a moment the two of them just stood there as she shook her head at him, looking at him with what was mainly disappointment more then anything else. The she simply walked off slowly, following her boss and joining her team inside the building.  
  
CSI CORONER"S LAB  
  
"Hey there Call, I've been waiting for you..." Alexx said with a smile as she saw the blond coming through the doors.   
  
"I heard you had a little present for me!" Calleigh smiled back at her  
  
"I sure do!" Alexx handed her a small glass jar with a small bullet inside. "Does it look like the one you got out of the wall?"  
  
"It looks like it" Calleigh said, lifting the jar to the light and inspecting it closely "But I won't know until I finish comparing them under the microscope"  
  
She smiled and thanked Alexx then left the coroner's lab and made her way back to her ballistics lab. She carefully took the bullet out of the jar and placed it under the microscope where the other bullet they recovered from the wall was already ready. She looked through the lens and turned the tow bullets until the markings on the case were exactly aligned. "Like two pees in a pod"   
  
Next she took a digitized image of the markings and went over to the computer - with a few clicks on her keys she started running a search through the database to look for any other bullets used in previous crimes that had the same markings on them.  
  
*  
  
CSI CRIME LAB  
  
"Hey James, what are you working on?" Speed came into the room and took a seat next to Jamie who was sitting at the computer, looking intently on the screen.  
  
"We found some photos on the hard drive you brought in, they must have used a digital camera. They tried to erase the files but I think I can restore them - maybe we'll find something on them." Jamie sighed, rubbing her eyes in frustration. It was late in the night - or more accurately - early in the morning - and they only just returned from the crime scene. In fact Erik was still there, wrapping things up. She reached over to her coffee, taking a sip and making a face when she found it cold.  
  
"What number of coffee cup is that?" he smiled at her, getting up to stand behind her and rub her shoulders and at the same time looking at the images on the screen.  
  
"I lost count about 7 hundred cups ago" She aid sarcastically, fighting the urge to surrender to his hands that were working wonders on her shoulders "Look at this, I got the this picture back up but it's a little bit distorted - like a negative, once I'm done working on it we might be able to find some shiny surface or a silhouette and maybe identify who Hitchcomb's partners were."  
  
"Well I got something" he told her triumphantly "It seems like they sent an e-mail right before they deleted the hard drive - I have a tracing program running trying to locate the IP address to an actual address"  
  
"Maybe they sent an e-mail to their buyer..." Jamie suggested hopefully  
  
They were startled by a knock on the door and turned to see Agent Evans rapping on the glass window  
  
"Great!" Speed sighed in disgust "Now what?"  
  
*  
  
The whole team along with Agent Bailey Evans and one of his men a guy named David Alison were gathered in the Horatio's office. Jamie knew Alison from her days in the Bureau - he was a good crime scene investigator and a fairly good scientist but he lacked imagination - the ability to come up with ways for the puzzle to fit. Sometimes you needed to think about the road less traveled so to speak, the things that were little less obvious - and David just didn't have that ability.   
  
The office was way to small to hold these many people and the all ended up sitting close together - sharing couch space and leaning against walls. From his place leaning against the far wall Bailey could see Jamie and Speed sharing the couch, their heads buried in a file they were going over together.  
  
Earlier, when he came to get them from the audiovisual lab, he saw them together - Speed was rubbing her shoulders in what was obviously a small intimate moment. They looked close - like now, they appeared to be sharing a secret, sitting so close to each other. He looked over at Horatio - wondering if he knew about it...  
  
"Agent Evans?" Erik Delko's voice shook him out of his thoughts "You said you had something?"  
  
"Yeah well, I got Leroy Hitchcomb's file from our database" Bailey gave out copies for everyone, trying to avoid meeting Jamie and Horatio's angry glares. "He was helping us out with some information about a child smuggling operation out of central America. A few month ago he dropped out of sight, stopped making contact. We do have the names of the contacts he made before he dropped off the radar - I figured one of these people probably made him an offer he couldn't refuse."  
  
"I'll cross reference these names with whatever we recover from the hard drive of the computer - see if any name pops up!" Speed informed them  
  
"We finished going over the slaughterhouse" Erik reported passing around pictures of the crime scene "We found a room in the basement where the kids were held - the windows and the door were covered in dark cloth. A few hairs a few fibers, the burnt paper in the kitchen, I found about a hundred sets of prints - most of them are probably from junkies and squatters that were probably there all these years when the building was abandoned. It's a dead end"  
  
While Erik was talking a technician came, opening the door only slightly because David was leaning against it. He looked around, finding Calleigh and handing her a file.  
  
"Well I may have got a lead here" Calleigh said as soon as Erik finished talking "the gun was used before, the markings and tags on the bullet match a round that was found in a robbery about a year and a half ago - the gun was never recovered"  
  
"Ok, Calleigh you and me we'll follow up with that, Speed and Jamie you keep digging into that computer, Erik you go ahead with what you got form the slaughterhouse"   
  
"I'd like my guy to give him a hand with that..." Bailey interjected  
  
"Fine, Delko take agent Alison with you" Horatio dismissed him. Then looked around the room at everyone "We're closing in on the 24 hour mark, we have to find these kids as soon as possible"  
  
"Don't worry H" They all nodded as they got up and left the room, heading back to their labs.  
  
??  
  
(footnote continued) 


	8. Part 7

Part 7  
  
Calleigh and Horatio drove silently in the hummer to the other side of town, Bailey was following them in his own car. When they reached their destination the all got out of their cars and joined John Hagen who was already standing in front of the house.  
  
"The suspect's name is Louise Rodriguez. He was in jail for a year for that armed rubbery, spent a year in jail before that on assault charges."  
  
"A real prince" Horatio mumbled under his breath.  
  
They walked up to the door and knocked, a few seconds later it was opened by a large man in his late thirties.   
  
"Mr. Louise Rodriguez?" Hagen verified "We're from Miami police would you mind if we came inside?"  
  
The man hesitated for a second and then allowed them into the living room. Horatio took a long look around the house, looking for signs of anything suspicious - it was a small house the kind that usually didn't have a seller or a basement - nowhere to hide two children, the living room was dusty and dim but otherwise fairly clean, a few small couches, two bottles of bear - one empty, one half full. Nothing out of the ordinary.  
  
"What do you want?" Rodriguez finally spoke, looking between the four of them  
  
"A little over a year ago you committed an armed robbery" Hagen started explaining "The gun you used was never found"  
  
"So?" the man shrugged  
  
"So we would like to see it" Horatio informed him, looking sternly  
  
"I don't have it" the man turned his back to them and took a seat on the couch.  
  
Horatio exchanged looks with John Hagen and Bailey Evans then stepped closer to the man, leaning closer and whispering menacingly in his ear "Mr. Rodriguez the gun...your gun, was used in a crime that involved the kidnapping of two small children. You hold anything from me and I promise you I'm going to make sure you're going to spend a lot of time in prison...Under the terms of your parole if you supplied a weapon that was used in a crime I can put you away for a very long time..."  
  
Behind Horatio Calleigh inched closer to Bailey whispering so that Rodriguez wouldn't hear them "Is that true?"  
  
Bailey shrugged and hid a small smirk at Horatio's tactics.  
  
Mr. Rodriguez however wasn't that amused by Horatio's threats, a frightened look crossed his face as he looked at Horatio who was still towering over him. Horatio, who saw the look and new that he would talk now, nodded his head and signaled for Hagen to take it from there.  
  
*  
  
Erik sat with David at the lab, scanning print after print from the scene into the computer and running them through the database. David proved to be pretty easy to work with and soon they were making small talk and exchanging jokes as they worked.   
  
When they finished scanning the prints into the computer they left the program running and turned their attention to the evidence bag that held the burnt paper.   
  
Erik used a pair of tweezers to carefully take the paper out of the bag. When he placed it on the table they could clearly see that it was actually two pieces of paper stuck together.  
  
"We need to separate these two pieces" Erik said, going over different methods in his mind and ruling them out instantly, the paper was just too fragile.  
  
"Well, I might have and idea" David said suddenly "We can stabilize the paper with parylene polymer and then use water and temperature to separate them"  
  
"Won't that destroy the paper?" Erik frowned  
  
"Well, It's going to be a slow process, we have to spay it with water and then freeze it, letting the polymer shrink so it will sort of peal the upper paper. Then do it again and again until they separate" David explained "When they're separated we'll have to slowly heat the upper layer again so it will straighten back..."  
  
"Ok then, let's get to work..." Erik still sounded a little skeptical but he shrugged and allowed David to place the piece of paper in the vacuum chamber and start the process.  
  
*  
  
Jamie and Speed were sitting side by side, each at his own computer, at the computer lab. Jamie was working on reconstructing the pictures that were left on the hard drive while Speed was trying to trace the IP addresses of the e-mails.  
  
"Well, this is a dead end" Speed announced after an hour of work "The IP address is encrypted and mobile - I can't trace it, I managed to recover the e-mails but I can't figure out who they were sent to. How about you?"  
  
"There are two pictures in here that show anyone other then the kids" she replied, pressing some keys and pulling up a picture on the large display screen. "You see over there in the far background?"  
  
"It looks like a guy sitting down" Speed got up from his seat and moved closer to the screen for a better look  
  
Jamie pressed a few more keys and started zooming in again and again, adjusting the pixels every time until they could clearly see a the guy. He was sitting with his back to the camera in front of a computer, a turned around baseball cap on his head.  
  
"Let's see if I can get a reflection of his face from the computer screen" Jamie zoomed in again, this time on the computer screen.  
  
Unfortunately, it seemed like the man's hand was in the way and all they could make out was part of his chin and lower lip. She repeated the whole process again with the second picture - zooming in on the screen, trying to get a reflection. But again the man's hand seemed to block most of the view.  
  
"It isn't enough for an ID" speed sighed in disappointment and returned to his seat "The e-mails are all addressed to an R.C. - I checked the list Evans gave us and there are four names with those initials - Rodney Carter, Roberto Cruz, Ron Crawford and Richard Castiliano - maybe we should check them all one by one"  
  
"Hold on a second! What was that name again? The second one? "   
  
"Roberto Cruz?"   
  
Jamie closed her eyes, allowing the images to run through her mind, trying to figure out why that name rang a familiar bell with her.  
  
When it finally hit her she nearly jumped out of her seat.   
  
She turned back to her computer screen and pulled up one of the pictures again, zooming in on the guy in the background again. But this time instead on zooming in on the computer screen she zoomed in on the man's head.  
  
Right there on the front of the baseball cap was a red logo - "Cruz International Travel" 


	9. Part 8

Calleigh walked into the lab just as Erik and David were about to put the piece of burnt paper under the microscope.  
  
"Hey Call, I thought you were out with Horatio" he walked over to her, leaving David next to the table while he and Calleigh talked  
  
"I was" she smiled back at him "they got a name and went off in search for a bad guy, I got bored so I decided to get back here and maybe get some more work done"  
  
"You? Backing out on a good chase?" Erik teased  
  
"It wasn't that good" She shrugged with a smile "What are you guys working on?"  
  
"The paper" Erik showed her back to the microscope "we're just about ready to take a look"  
  
He placed the paper under the lamp and activated the machine. After alternating the light waves for a few second they could finally make the writing on the paper.  
  
"It looks like a map" Calleigh examined it  
  
"Do either of you recognize the area?" David asked them  
  
"It's too small, I can't really make it out" Erik squinted at it, coming even closer. "There is ink down here, looks like something was circled right down here" he pointed to the edge of the paper.  
  
"We still have the other piece..." David suggested   
  
"Maybe I can work on this" Calleigh offered "I can try to blow it up or something"   
  
"What? No more bullets?" Erik teased her again as he pressed some buttons taking a digital picture of the map and loading it to a disk so Calleigh could work on it.  
  
She just made a face and he laughed at her, then axcused himself and left for the other lab to get a piece of equipment he needed  
  
"Do you two always banter like this?" David asked her once Erik was gone.  
  
"We try to make a habit of it" she smirked, walking out of the lab herself and leaving David behind, shaking his head with a chuckle.  
  
*  
  
Horatio picked up the phone and placed it on speaker "Horatio here"  
  
"Horatio it's Erik. I got a few possible hits from the finger prints we got in the slaughterhouse"   
  
"How many possibilities?" Horatio looked over at Bailey who was sitting in the passenger seat beside him. Hagen was following in his car behind them, along with a few squad cars.  
  
"Well I narrowed it down to only sex offenders, figured these guys have probably done this before"   
  
"Is one of the names you have on that list Michael Benitez?"  
  
"Give me a minute let me check" Horatio could hear the rustling of papers on the other end of the line before Erik came back on "Yeah he is, how did you know?"  
  
"Mr. Benitez has our gun, we're on his way to his address right now. I'll see you later" He clicked his phone shut and looked over at Bailey again, without noticing he pressed the gas peddle harder all the way to the floor.  
  
*  
  
Jamie and Speed were sitting in front of Roberto Cruz in his office. Detective Sevilla was leaning against the wall behind them studying the man in front of them - he was older then Hitchcomb had been, maybe in his late thirties, black hair, dark eyes, an expensive suit and a flashy tie.  
  
"Mr. Cruz do you know a man named Leroy Hitchcomb?" she asked him  
  
"No I don't think so but we do have a lot of clients" he smiled at the politely  
  
"Well Mr. Hitchcomb was on probation he wasn't allowed to leave the county much less the country so I don't think he was on you company's last tour to the Bahamas" Speed said cynically  
  
"the name does not sound familiar"  
  
"That's Mr. Hitchcomb was helping the FBI with an investigation and yours is one of the names he gave them" Speed told him  
  
"Mr. Cruz, would you know anything about a baseball hat with your company's logo that was seen worn by a suspect in a kidnapping case?"  
  
"A hat?" Cruz shook his head "We give those out as presents to clients and people we try to do business with. There are hundreds of these hat running around out there - I don't know who has them"  
  
At this point Jamie got up and started walking around the room, picking up brochures and putting them back down again. Speed found it odd that she has yet to say a thing through the whole interview - especially since it was her lead that got them here in the first place.  
  
After a few more questions the three of them left the office, not before warning Mr. Cruz not to make any sudden trip plans in the next few days.  
  
"He could be the buyer" Speed said as they walked out into the Miami sunny afternoon "He has the money for it..."  
  
"He isn't the buyer" Jamie said thoughtfully "he's the middleman for these creeps. Here, take a look"  
  
She handed him a folded brochure and he opened it, reading out loud "Enjoy a trip to South America - single man's perfect vacation. Cruz international special offer for preferred customers!"  
  
"These creeps go out to South America have a vacation and come back with a brand new under aged adopted sex toy" Jamie said in disgust, putting on her shades and starting to walk over to the hummer.  
  
Speed nodded and followed her to the hummer "What ever we do you know we have to catch this guy fast"  
  
Jamie nodded at him in understanding while Detective Sevilla looked at him quizzically "How long till we pass the 48 hour mark?"  
  
"It's not that" Speed said gravely "There was a picture on his desk. This guy has two kids of him own" 


	10. Part 9

"Well" Hagen made his way back to Horatio and Bailey who were waiting on the sidewalk "I knocked, but he doesn't seem to be home"  
  
Bailey was looking the other way and he suddenly called their attention "Hey, isn't that our guy?"  
  
They all looked in that direction and saw a man rounding the corner, a few bags in his hands. When he saw the police cars in front of the house he stopped dead in his tracks. Next thing they knew, he dropped the bags and started running.  
  
"After him!" John yelled at the other police officers and everyone sprung into action.  
  
Bailey was the first to react. He started running after the guy, and Horatio started running after him. The guy ran down the street and around the corner, then into an ally. He ran into the next street, knocking people out of his way.  
  
Bailey was ahead of everyone else, closing in closer and closer on the guy. He avoided stumbling on the people who had been knocked over and continued running, removing his gun from his holster as he got even nearer. Finally the suspect stumbled as he tried to round another corner into another ally. He stumbled into the ally and tried to keep running but Bailey reached out and managed to grab a hold of his jacket.  
  
He kept holding on and within seconds Horatio, Hagen and some of the uniformed police officered arrived - all of them with their weapons drawn and pointed at the suspect.  
  
"Mr. Benitez?" Bailey verified somewhat breathlessly, but the man gave him no answer.  
  
"Mr. Benitez where are the kids?" Horatio insisted, his gun still pointed at the man's face.  
  
"I want a lawyer" he suddenly said  
  
"Oh you'll get a lawyer alright" Hagen growled at his ear as he cuffed him and led him away "Trust me, you're going to need one"  
  
Horatio went over and whispered something in Hagen's ear before the detective got into the squad car with his suspect and then came back over to Bailey "Look, we don't have time for this. You're FBI, I need you to pull some ranks here."  
  
"What do you need?"   
  
"I need his cloths and I need them now, before the evidence gets contaminated"   
  
"I'll have the warrant ready for you by the time this guy makes the way down to the station" Bailey nodded, pulling out his cell phone.  
  
*  
  
Horatio made his way into the CSI Building when he saw detective Sevilla waiting for him at the entrance.   
  
"The Summers are here. They heard we had a suspect" she warned him as he approached.   
  
A second later he saw them, they were sitting on the bench an officer at their side. The moment they saw him the jumped to their feet.  
  
"Did you find them? We heard you had someone in custody?" they bombarded him with questions."Do you have a suspect? Do you know where they are?"  
  
"We have someone in custody, but we don't know where they are yet" he said quietly, the second he uttered the words the mother began sobbing again, turning to her husband who put an arm around her for comfort "We're not sure yet this man is connected to the kidnapping, but I promise you we're going to find them."  
  
"Is there anything we can do to help?" The father asked, his voice breaking  
  
Horatio shook his head sadly "You should go home..."  
  
"No" the mother said firmly, rubbing tears from her face and turning back to Horatio "We want to be here, we want to be here when we find them"  
  
The look in their eyes told Horatio he wouldn't be able to convince them otherwise - at least not right now. A policeman came over to him, whispering something in his ear and handing him a large brown bag.   
  
"Ok" he turned back to the parents "I'll send someone to take you to a waiting room. You'll be more comfortable there"  
  
*  
  
Jamie and Speed walked into the CSI crime lab building just as Horatio made his way in, catching up to him in the hall.  
  
"Hey H, what have you got there?" Jamie motioned at the large brown bag he was holding  
  
"We have a suspect in custody. I've got his cloths here for analysis"   
  
"That was fast" Speed took the bag away from him and looked inside seeing a pair of pants, shoes, a shirt - even underwear "What is this guy wearing right now?"  
  
"Who cares" Jamie mumbled under her breath just as Calleigh, Erik and David joined them.  
  
"We have something off the paper - it's an hour - 10 pm" Erik announced to the group  
  
"It could be the time when the deal is supposed to happen." Calleigh suggested "If we assume it hasn't happened yet then we have about 12 more hours"  
  
"We stick to the original time frame people - 48 hours - the clock runs out in 9 hours" Horatio said sternly, making them all go silent for a moment as they studied him.  
  
Bailey walked in through the glass doors and joined the group "I have a warrant for Benitez's house"   
  
"OK, Erik - you and David take the house" Horatio ordered  
  
"I'll start analyzing the cloths" Speed volunteered   
  
"I'm still working on that map" Calleigh reported  
  
Horatio nodded to all of them and soon they scattered to their different directions leaving Horatio and Bailey alone in the entrance hall.  
  
"Time is starting to run out" Bailey said calmly  
  
"We'll get them"  
  
"Horatio" Bailey started carefully "Look, we need to start to prepare for the possibility we won't find them in time before the transaction takes place"  
  
"What are you trying to say Evans?" Horatio was starting to get irritated   
  
"We need to start figuring out who's the buyer"  
  
"Well, the only ones who know that are the kidnappers and the one we have right now isn't really talking" Horatio spat harshly.  
  
"That's not entirely true and you know it"  
  
Horatio turned to the other man with a menacing look in his eyes "No"  
  
"We need to at least try tackling this from a different angle, we may not get the kidnappers, we might need to start working on a psychological profile of the buyer" Bailey wasn't intimidated  
  
"I'm not going to ask her to do that Evans, end of discussion" without another word he spun on his heels and left. 


	11. Author's note

hey everyone...  
  
Well this story is turning out to be a bit longer then I expected and a bit longer than my priviouse episodes...  
  
I'm already writing part 14 and there is no end in sight...  
  
I still haven't figured out if I'm going to write another episode - I have a great Idea for an episode but I just don't know if anyone is still out there to read it...  
  
Anyway...  
  
the next chapter will be on in a couple of days so hang in there whoever is still reading and let me know what you think...  
  
Love  
  
Black Raven 


	12. Part 10

Calleigh watched the computer screen tiredly. On one side of the screen was the piece of map they found, on the other side the computer was displaying image after image of parts of maps of Miami, trying to find a match.   
  
On a different screen she was trying a different angle - she couldn't find a street name on the map they found - only the first two letters appeared at the edge of it. She first narrowed it down to all the streets in Miami that started with those two letters, now she was pulling up maps of these streets and trying to see if her section appeared anywhere.  
  
It was like trying to find a full jigsaw puzzle when all you had was just one piece.   
  
*  
  
Speed took out the clothes from the brown bag carefully. He placed the magnifying eyeglasses on him head and spread the clothes on the illuminated table.  
  
Using a flashlight he went over the fabrics inch by inch. On the hem of the shirt he found a tiny spot of something that appeared to be blood - he cut out the fabric around the spot and dripped some solution on it. The sport turned bright pink almost instantly - confirming it was human blood.  
  
On the end of the long sleeve he found some dark residue and swabbed it for analysis. On one of the pants legs he found a short blond hair. He placed it in a bag and logged it properly. He went over to the shoes and swabbed the sole of the foot - it seemed like common dirt but he couldn't be sure until he placed it under the microscope.  
  
*  
  
Erik and David walked into the house, lighting their way with flashlights. The place was a mess - beer bottles, leftover food, dirty clothes.  
  
David made his way into the study while Erik went into the bedroom. He opened the closet and looked in. at the bottom there were some boxes and he knelt down to look at them. Some of them contained shoes and one contained family pictures. The last box, the largest, contained kids toys.  
  
"Erik, have a look at this" he heard David call for him from the other room.  
  
The study was as messy as the rest of the house, Erik followed David inside and watched as David pressed a button on the TV remote. The TV came to life and so did the video - pedophile porn began to show on the screen.  
  
"There's about a dozen more tapes on that shelf over there" David told him  
  
*  
  
Jamie came out of the lab where Speed had been working with an evidence bag in her hand and made her way to the other room.   
  
She pulled on a lab coat and went to work.   
  
She pulled out the hair Speed had found on the suspect's clothing and placed it under the microscope - luckily for them the root of the hair was still there.  
  
She cut off the hair follicle and placed it in a tube along with some solution, then placed it in the centrifuge. She watched the machine spin for a few moments and then took it out again and placed it in the analyzed.   
  
Within an hour or so, they might have a DNA sample   
  
*  
  
"Mr. Benitez, where are those kids?" Horatio asked for the hundredth time  
  
"He already answered that" the lawyer objected  
  
"And he will continue to answer it until he gives me an answer I will believe" Horatio glanced at the man, then focused back on the suspect.  
  
"I don't know nothing about no kids" Benitez shrugged  
  
"Then why did you run?"   
  
"I saw all those cops in front of my house. That's never a good sign. I panicked"  
  
"Now why would you panic if you had nothing to hide?" Horatio insisted  
  
"You have nothing against my client, you can't hold him" the lawyer made a move to get up  
  
"He can't" Bailey declared as he came into the room "But I can. This is a kidnapping case, it's under FBI authority, we can pretty much do what we want"  
  
"In other words, sit down counselor and make yourself comfortable, we're going to be here for a while" Horatio sneered, and the man took his seat again.  
  
*  
  
Calleigh was half dozing in front of her computer when it finally beeped to signal that it found a match.  
  
She leaned forward in her seat and looked closer. The map that was showing was of the Miami down town area and she made a large print out of it, along with a large print out of her piece - also enlarged.  
  
She placed the full map on the illuminated board then attached her small piece. She took a marker and began from the ink mark at the bottom - completing the circle that was once drawn there before the paper was burned.   
  
It gave her an area of about 15 blocks.  
  
She took out her phone and dialed Horatio's number.  
  
*  
  
Jamie made her way down the hall into the waiting room.  
  
"Mr. and Mrs. Summers, my name is Jamie Sullivan. We found some evidence and we're going to need your help"  
  
"Anything we can do..." the father quickly replied  
  
"We're going to need a DNA sample for comparison."  
  
They both nodded and she took swabs from the inside of their mouth. She thanked them, trying to convey her sympathy with her eyes, and made her way back to her lab.  
  
She processed the swabs, dripping solutions on them and placing them into the machine, working carefully and accurately. When both samples were ready she loaded them into the computer and waited for the printout.  
  
She picked up her phone and dialed Speed's number, watching him pick up his phone in the next lab. "I have the results." She told him and he lifted his head and made eye contact with her through the glass "The hair from the suspect's clothes belongs with 99% certainty to someone related to Mr. and Mrs. Summers"  
  
"I'll see that and raise you a blood sputter and some gun powder" Speed said gravely  
  
"The kids?"   
  
"Hitchcomb" Speed replied "Seems like we have our shooter" 


	13. Part 11

PART 11  
  
Hey everyone - since this is becoming to be such a complicated and long story I've worked in a little recap into this chapter just to get everything clear and make sure everyone is up with the story so to speak.  
  
Hope you don't think I'm starting to repeat myself too much.  
  
Oh and this chapter is going to be mainly about Speed and Jamie and stuff like that, because people have benn asking me for some action between them and I've decided to finally push things into high gear. Which also means that this chapter is going to be little R rated! You've been warned!  
  
*  
  
Horatio and Bailey waited in the back of the small room as the captain of the police department briefed his men, when he finished giving them the general warnings he called Horatio over and he stepped up, surveying the people in the room.  
  
His team was there - Calleigh, Speed, Erik, Jamie, Alexx - as well as a number of other familiar faces - Hagen, Adele Sevilla, Yelena and of course Bailey and David. They were all waiting for his briefing.  
  
"Listen up everyone. We have tow small children 10 and 8, boy and a girl. They've been taken from the public park in broad daylight., their Nanny had been killed on the scene. One of the kidnappers - a known sex offender named Leroy Hitchcomb, we believe he's the one who made the grab and he's the one who killed the nanny, he was found dead at the second crime scene - we believe that the children had been held there for a while. Another suspect is Michael Benitez, we believe he's the one who shot Hitchcomb"  
  
"How many more men are there?" one of the officers cut in  
  
Horatio looked up at Jamie for assistance and she replied without leaving her seat "I don't think there is more then one more - two at the most. These are pedophiles they don't usually work in packs but these people got together for a purpose - that's the only reason we're not looking at a single perpetrator right now"  
  
"We have a possible location" Horatio continued, pointing to a map that had been tacked to the board behind him "The area is in a radius of approximately 15 blocks, we're looking for somewhere partly secluded, somewhere were they could stash these kids with out people paying much attention."  
  
"If you find a possible fix on the kids you lay low, try not to get noticed and call for backup" The captain stepped in "We need to be careful here so they won't hurt the children"  
  
The men and women in the room disbursed soon after that and pretty soon there was only a handful of people left in the room. Horatio looked up and saw Jamie and Calleigh talking to Hagen while he took notes, Erik was standing over to the other side with Yelena and Adele. In the back of the room Bailey, David and a couple of men he was not familiar with were talking while Speed stood quietly beside them.  
  
Something about Speed's expression told Horatio that he was not going to like the topic of conversation so he quickly made his way over.  
  
"Lieutenant Caine" Bailey greeted "I'd like you to meet my boss Special Agent Washington and Special Agent Miller"  
  
Horatio shook hands reluctantly and hide to hide a small smile as he saw Speed roll his eyes behind the agent's back.  
  
"We were just talking about the deadline" Bailey continued explaining "We're cutting it a little close don't you think?"  
  
"We're using every resource we have Agent Evans, you know that, you've been here all the time. If you have any ideas I'd love to hear them"  
  
"I've already suggested another course of action." Bailey started but Horatio cut him off again, checking for a minute that Jamie was still out of earshot.  
  
"We've been over this, she's a CSI, not a profiler. She's doing her job, I'm not going to ask her for anything more then that"  
  
"She's done profiling before" The new man, Agent Washington told him "She's been trained for it and we both know that she has the gift for it."  
  
"Well she's not doing it anymore" Horatio said in a tone that left no room for discussion "I'm not going to ask her to try and get into the mind of a child pedophile until I absolutely have to. It's my decision to make"  
  
With that he simply turned around and left. Speed sent one more smirk towards the others and quickly followed him out of the room.  
  
*  
  
Speed walked out to the balcony, taking a few minutes rest from work. There wasn't much work right now, to be honest, right now it came down to a waiting game. They just had to sit tight and wait for all the clues they gathered so far to pay off. Waiting was not something either of them was very good at so they were keeping busy - re-analyzing the evidence, putting the finishing touches on the report, anything to get their minds off the wait.  
  
He noticed Jamie leaning against the rail and walked over to her, leaning against the rail himself "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Clearing my head, just needed a breath of fresh air" she shrugged, but he could tell something was off.  
  
"Is everything ok?"  
  
"Yeah.I'm just.. I'm preparing"  
  
"For what?" she didn't answer at first, just looked at him, and then the conversation from earlier that day came back to him "Who told you?"  
  
"Bailey told me, a couple of hours ago"  
  
"I thought Horatio said it wasn't an option"  
  
"He doesn't want it to be, but we have one hour till the original deadline wears off. If it does, we .I might not have a choice"  
  
He placed an arm on her back and started moving it in slow circles "What's it like this profiling thing? Is it hard?"  
  
"Actually, it's pretty easy." She wasn't looking at him and he had the feeling like she was avoiding eyes contact on purpose "That's the scary part about it. The easiness in which you can connect to those parts in yourself that you didn't even think existed. I don't like it, getting in touch with my sicko side so to speak.I haven't done it in years"  
  
"Then don't do it, forget about Bailey. who gives a shit what he says."  
  
"What if it's the only way?"  
  
All of the sudden he couldn't help it anymore, he pulled her over and hugged her, pulling her as tight to his body as he could. She wrapped her arms around him in response, her hand caressed his neck.  
  
He could feel her body through the thin fabric of her cloths and he let his hand slide down to the small of her back. She pulled a little away from him and looked him in the eye, she could feel his warm breath on her face as he leaned closer. Finally after what seemed like forever his lips touched hers.  
  
The kiss started tender and hesitant but soon became more passionate, more hungry. His hand snaked under the material of her shirt and he was gently touching the skin of her back.  
  
"Speed." she breathed in his ear as he moved down to her neck "Not here. we can't."  
  
He pulled back, looking in her eyes again, he was still breathing hard. "All right, not here" He smiled mischievously and took her hand in his leading her back into the building.  
  
"Speed? Where are we going?"  
  
"Just follow me"  
  
He led her through the halls quietly, he was no longer holding her hand but he kept looking over his shoulder, making sure she was still there. He got into one of the labs and into one of the evidence locker room, closing the door behind them.  
  
"Why Tim Speedle What exactly do you expect to happen that you bring me in here?"  
  
He smiled at her again, crossing the distance behind them and putting his hands on her waist "I'm not thinking anything - just looking for a little bit of privacy"  
  
He leaned in again, kissing her again passionately. She clung to his body, letting her own hands roam under his T-shirt. He pulled her shirt up over her head, leaving her in her bra.  
  
"You know, we really shouldn't be doing this." she mumbled  
  
"Are you kidding me? I've wanted to do this for weeks!"  
  
They kept kissing for a little longer. Soon, Speed's shirt joined her's on the floor. He was tracing his lips down her jaw line, trailing kisses all the way down her neck.  
  
Suddenly there was a knock on the door and they both froze.  
  
"Hello?" Calleigh's voice came through the locked door, sounding quit amused "Guys? If you're about done in there, a uniformed cop just spotted our little girl, the SWAT team is on it's way." A minute later she added "But take your time!" 


	14. Note

Hey Everyone.  
  
I know I haven't updated in like forever and I know some of you might be really pissed at me but things just kept coming up (I have to find a new apartment, my house was totally renovated and I had to sit with the contractors, the Jewish holidays are starting now and my boyfriend spent the last week or so in the hospital) and I really couldn't get to the computer and write the next chapters - even thought they are all already written in my head.  
  
So stay with me for just a little while longer and don't give up on me - I promise that new chapters are going to be posted for all my stories by the end of this week of by the beginning of next week!  
  
I swear!  
  
LOVE Black Raven 


	15. Part 12

PART 12  
  
Horatio practically jumped out of the hummer as soon as it came to a stop.  
  
"What our status?" he quickly asked John Hagen who was standing near by  
  
"It looks like they have been held in that building for a while" Hagen pointed at the rundown apartment building "We don't know if there is anyone still in there"  
  
"And the girl? what about the little girl?" Horatio pressed  
  
"She's being checked by the paramedics" Hagen pointed to an ambulance standing near by, as Horatio moved in that direction John grabbed his arm for a moment "We still have no idea where her brother is"  
  
Horatio nodded gravely, understanding what the detective was trying to convey.  
  
He made his way over to the back of the ambulance, Calleigh was already there, happily chatting with the little girl, he noticed that Jamie was standing a few feet away - she seemed to be looking at the building but he knew her well enough to know that she was listening in to every word out of the girl's mouth and that she will probably remember every syllable later.  
  
"Hey there!" he smiled gently at the girl and couldn't help but notice how she slightly flinched at the sound of a male voice "You're Annie aren't you?"  
  
The girl nodded slightly - still eyeing him suspiciously  
  
"Well Hello Annie, my name is Horatio, and we've all been looking for you for a really long time" he smiled at her and she finally smiled back, feeling more at ease. "Annie, Calleigh here is going to take you to the hospital and stay with you while they make sure you're ok - your parents are gonna be there too, and after that, you and I are going to talk some more ok?"  
  
The girl nodded again and inched even closer to Calleigh, obviously happy not to be left alone. Horatio turned to leave when he finally heard her speak in a small voice  
  
"Are you going to find Kyle too?"  
  
He turned back and smiled at her again, leaning in so he was at eye level with her "I will, but I'm going to need your help Annie, you want to help me find your brother?"  
  
She nodded and smiled at him again and he gave her a small pat on the knee. Careful to limit the contact as to not harm any evidence.  
  
"Call' " He called the blond over "I want a full analysis on this girl." he hesitated for a second before going on "And do a full rape kit"  
  
A few minutes later he joined Speed and Erik to watch the SWAT team come out of the building, finally giving the all clear. Horatio saw Hagen exchange a few words with the team leader, when he finished he looked at Horatio, shaking his head slightly - There was no sign for the boy!  
  
*  
  
"So now what?" Speed slumped into a chair and broke the uncomfortable silence  
  
Horatio looked around the room at his team. Calleigh had just finished performing a rape kit on a 9 year old girl - an experience he knew, will haunt her for the rest of her life, no matter what the results of the test will turn out to be. Erik was sitting in the far corner with a glum face, frustrated beyond belief, Horatio could see him clenching and unclenching his fist, an involuntary movement that only happened when he was frustrated enough to actually punch someone or something. Speed was using his usual mean of venting - sarcasm - and a lot of it. Jamie was going over her notes yet again, closing her eyes and mumbling to herself, trying to find something in her memory that she might have missed.  
  
They were all tiered, so was he. They have been working for 48 hours straight now, and the exhaustion was beginning to show.  
  
"We keep going." He finally said "We've done a good job so far but we're not done yet. We still have a kid out there, and we need to find him. Erik, I want you to go over the apartment - go over everything, no matter how trivial it might look. Calleigh, stick with Hagen and Agent Evans, it's time to feed this to the press, maybe we'll get lucky and someone will spot the boy somewhere. Jamie, stay with the girl - analyze the rape kit and work with her, we need to find out what she remembers. Speed, you're with me"  
  
"What are we going to do?" Speed asked as they all started getting up  
  
"We're going to make some people talk"  
  
*  
  
Calleigh walked into Jamie's lab with a brown evidence bag in her hand.  
  
"Is this the rape kit?" Jamie asked quietly, when Calleigh nodded she reached over and took the bag from her, noting the Calleigh actually let out a sigh of relief. Just handing the bag over to someone else made her feel lighter - as if a burden has been lifted from her shoulders. "Your first child rape kit?"  
  
"Yeah, I mean, I did it once before, but she was dead, the girl I mean. it was."  
  
"Easier" Jamie completed the sentence  
  
"God, that sounded awful, saying it was easier when the girl was dead." Calleigh shook her head and slumped into a chair  
  
"It's ok Call, I know what you mean" Jamie smiled reassuringly "Did you notice anything during the test? Did she object to anything? Did she cry? Anything you can think of that will trigger some memories?"  
  
"Not much, she wasn't cooperating much, didn't want me to even touch her. It's not a good sign isn't it?"  
  
Jamie didn't answer, she didn't need to.  
  
Calleigh nodded again and started heading outside, suddenly she remembered something and turned back to Jamie with a mischievous smile on her face "By the way."  
  
"Don't start with me Call" Jamie said warningly, but there was a hint of laughter in her voice  
  
"Come on, I find you and Tim Speedle, locked in, in the evidence locker, and you expect me not to ask about it?" She came over to the table next to Jamie and leaned in, whispering "You have to give me something here James!"  
  
Even though she was protesting, she was enjoying this - she never had a lot of girlfriends, being younger than anyone around her, she grew up kind of isolated - it was fun to have a girl talk like this  
  
"We kissed, nothing more. nothing happened!" Jamie tried to sound nonchalant  
  
"Is he a good kisser?"  
  
"Calleigh!!!" Jamie said in mock shock and they both giggled  
  
"Come on, tell me if he's a good kisser and that's it! Is he?"  
  
Jamie just smiled and looked over at Calleigh "Oh Yeah, he's a very good kisser!!!"  
  
*  
  
Horatio and Speed both stood on the side walk and leaned against the hummer. There was a small crowd of neighbors gathering behind them.  
  
Two social workers came out of the small house with three children, two old enough to walk - about 7 or 8, another one merely a baby. A young woman came running out of the house after them, crying and sobbing. She reached out and tried to touch the children, but a police officer blocked her way and restrained her.  
  
Yelena came out next, behind her were two uniformed police officers leading the handcuffed Roberto Cruz between them. She watched as they place him in a squad car and came over to Horatio and Speed. "You have a warrant to search the place as much as you want, the office too."  
  
"What about the wife?" Speed indicated to the woman still sobbing and screaming on the front porch.  
  
"I'll question her, but I don't think she knows anything" Yelena replied, then hesitated for a moment "We can't keep them for long.the kids I mean. Without any proof a sexual abuse or neglect... there isn't much we can do"  
  
"Just give us a few hours" Horatio asked "I need some time"  
  
"I'll buy you as much time as I can." 


	16. Part 13

PART 13  
  
Horatio stood outside the room and watched through the glass, waiting. Michael Benitez was sitting at the table, chewing on his nails nervously, his lawyer at his side.  
  
A police officer opened the door and led Roberto Cruz in, his own lawyer in toe.  
  
Horatio looked closely, searching for something in both men's faced, he finally saw it - the small spark of recognition, the small hint of fear that crossed both men's eyes when they saw each other, realizing that the cops were closer to the truth then they thought.  
  
He smiled and picked up his cell phone "Speed, I need you to look for something."  
  
*  
  
Jamie was standing in front of a different glass.  
  
She watched through the small hospital door window as Annie played with some dolls under the watchful eye of the hospital social worker. Mr. and Mrs. Summers were in the next room, talking to the doctor and another social worker.  
  
She took a deep breath and walked in, plastering a fake smile on her face.  
  
"Hello there Annie!" She walked over and sat down on the floor next to the child, from the look in the little girl's face she could tell that the fact that she didn't pull up a chair like the other adult in the room impressed her and that she liked it. That was the thing about working with traumatized children - every little nuance was important.  
  
"My name is Jamie, and I work with Horatio - remember him, the guy with the red hair and funny name from before?"  
  
The little girl giggled a bit, but then became serious "He said he's going to find my brother"  
  
"He's trying, so am I" Jamie assured her and started playing with one of the Barbie dolls herself "Hey, which Barbie is this?"  
  
"It's Malibu Barbie" the girl said shyly, obviously happy at the change of conversation topic "See? She has a bathing suite."  
  
"Have you ever been to Malibu Annie?"  
  
"Yeah, my parents took us."  
  
Jamie already knew all about the family vacation to California last summer, she knew all there was to know about the Summers, she even took another tour in their house before coming here. There was a picture from that vacation in the living room - the four of them, on the beach, smiling brightly at the camera.  
  
She let the girl tell her about it anyway, letting the conversation continue a bit longer until she was sure the little girl was comfortable enough.  
  
"Annie, what about the men that took you and Kyle? Did they bring you anywhere?"  
  
*  
  
"Mr. Benitez, Mr. Cruz - you know why we are here." Horatio started  
  
"I want to know where are my children!" Cruz demanded  
  
"Your children are with social services, they are safe - they're away from you" Yelena commented from her place in the back of the room, leaning against the glass wall.  
  
"I love my children."  
  
"I bet you do" Horatio said dryly "Mr. Benitez here loves children too - not his children but all children, don't you Michael?"  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking about" he tried to shrug  
  
"We found your collection, that's a lot of porn tapes you have there Michael, a lot of Kiddie porn, you know that's a felony all by itself? I already have you Michael, I have you for a very long time"  
  
"What does that have anything to do with my client?" Cruz's attorney asked impatiently  
  
"We'll get to that." Horatio cut him off "Right now, I want to talk about Mr. Cruz's special vacations offer to South America"  
  
*  
  
"Erik? Erik? Are you in here?"  
  
"Over here!"  
  
David's head appeared in the doorway "They told me you were here. I thought I'd come over to help"  
  
"Stay out there for a minute" Erik instructed "I have some foot prints here, three different sets, I'm trying to follow the pattern."  
  
"What can I do?"  
  
"Hit the lights"  
  
As the lights went off Erik passed a special lamp over the floor and footprints appeared in green florescent glow. Erik quickly photographed them before the glow disappeared.  
  
They continued working in silent, collecting a few hair samples from the bathroom, and a partial print from the edge of the sink. When they got to the bedroom they used a blue lamp to check for traces of semen on the mattress, there weren't any on the bed but playing a hunch Erik checked the rest of the room as well. There was a chair near the bed and when Erik brought the blue lamp closer he found traces of semen on the carpet next to the chair.  
  
They were in the kitchen when Erik's phone rang, Jamie was on the other end of the line.  
  
"Hey Erik, you finished with the apartment?"  
  
"There's a lot of evidence here James, looks like these guys have been here for a while"  
  
"Well, according to Annie, the man who took Kyle away was in that apartment, he and Kyle spent about an hour together, alone in the bedroom."  
  
"Dammit!" Erik had a sick feeling in his stomach, like he was about to throw up "We found semen in the bedroom, I'll leave David to finish up here and bring it by the lab right away"  
  
"I'll be waiting."  
  
*  
  
Horatio looked up from the two men in front of him when he heard a small tap on the window. He excused himself and went out to the hall  
  
"what have you got for me Speed?"  
  
"I've got you the link you wanted between Benitez and Cruz - seems like Mr. Benitez has taken a few trips to South America in the past few years - want to guess which company he used?"  
  
"Cruz international?"  
  
"Well, no - the company's name is RCT Travel - but guess who owns it?"  
  
"Roberto Cruz.good work Speed!"  
  
"Whatever he gave you we can top it." Erik showed up behind them "You better come take a look at this H"  
  
*  
  
"What do you have Jamie?" H said as soon as he got in the lab, Speed, Erik and Bailey in toe  
  
"There were traces of blood in the semen sample Erik found in the apartment. I found something weird in the sample - take a look"  
  
Horatio looked through the microscope at the sample - red blood cells, while plates. - but there was something else - something weird.  
  
"What am I looking at?"  
  
"You want the short answer or the long one?"  
  
"Let's start with the short one"  
  
"Well, the short answer is - a virus"  
  
"what's the long answer?" Bailey came over and took his turn looking through the microscope  
  
"The long answer is - a Virus, but I have no idea which one" 


	17. Part 14

Well, thank you all for waiting and being patient!!! This chapter is a little longer than usual - I just had a lot to put in for this chapter and I wrote so many good scenes for this chapter I just couldn't bring myself to cut any of them out of the final draft - so hope you don't mind it being a little bit longer than usual  
  
Hope you enjoy - and send me your reviews!!! I really could use the feedback!!!  
  
PART 14  
  
"Hey Erik?" David's head appeared in the doorway "Can we talk for a second?"  
  
"What's going on?"  
  
David walked into the room and Erik noticed that he was checking around, making sure there was no one close by, he wondered for a second what was the reason for the "Covert op" attitude all of the sudden. "I wanted to give you a heads up on something. a professional curtsey"  
  
"David, what's going on?"  
  
"Evens is in Cruz's house right now."  
  
"What's he doing there?" Erik was instantly on his feet "Calleigh is on her way there right now to analyze the scene."  
  
"I know" David shrugged "He wanted to be there first and search the place first."  
  
"What's going on David? What's Evens trying to pull?"  
  
"I don't know anything Erik" David said weakly "I'm an FBI forensic specialist, he doesn't exactly let me into the loop"  
  
"Damn it!" Erik slammed his fist down on the table "This is just great! We have a kid missing out there and this guy is turning this into a jurisdiction fight" he rubbed his eyes tiredly.  
  
"I just wanted to give you a heads up" David sounded apologetic "I could loose my job for even telling you that"  
  
"I know" Erik sighed, knowing David should not be the target of his anger "Don't worry, I'm not going to get you involved."  
  
David nodded silently and left the room quietly, knowing there was nothing more to say. Erik sat back at his desk and picked up the phone - this was one conversation he wasn't eager to make.  
  
*  
  
Alexx was on her way to her office when Horatio joined her in the hall, easily falling in step along side her "Alexx, I'm going to need a favor." He was shooting glances over her shoulder as he spoke and when she followed his gaze she saw Agent Evens standing at the other side of the hallway, briefing some of his men "Jamie has a virus she needs to identify and she could use your medical expertise."  
  
"Ok, but you wanna tell me what this is really about?"  
  
Horatio ducked his head and smiled, he should have known by now that there was no way he could ever hide anything from Alexx. "I'm going to sound a little stupid, but I'm going to need you to babysit Jamie for a while"  
  
"I'm still listening." she crossed her arms on her chest, giving him a look that said he was going to need more then that to convince her.  
  
"I'm having a little disagreement with the FBI right now and I have a feeling Evens and his people are getting a little antsy - I'm thinking he's going to try and go over my head."  
  
Alexx cast a glance at Agent Evens down the hall again, noticing that he was done briefing his men and was now looking at her and Horatio, the look on his face relayed way too much interest in the conversation and he wasn't doing a very good job at hiding it.  
  
She nodded back at Horatio and squeezed his arm "I'll do my best."  
  
*  
  
Hagen and Calleigh parked the car in front of the house and stepped out quickly.  
  
"I thought there was no one left here except for a few police uniforms?" Calleigh asked in confusion. Hagen's expression mirrored her own.  
  
The house was supposed to be empty - the kids were taken to children services, the wife was at the police station and Roberto Cruz himself was sitting at the CSI investigation room. There was a policeman left at the door to keep people away - but other than that there wasn't supposed to be anyone there.  
  
Instead, there were about a dozen cars parked outside, and men coming and going in and out of the house. Most of them carrying boxes and bags tagged as evidence.  
  
Just then Hagen's phone rang.  
  
"It's Horatio" he handed the phone over to her.  
  
"Get in there and take what you can Calleigh.then get back here"  
  
"Horatio what's going on? Who.."  
  
He didn't let her finish the sentence "Evens, he got a federal warrant to get in there before we did."  
  
"H, Everything I get out of this house is going to be inadmissible - it's all going to be tampered evidence now"  
  
"I know, get what you can and get back here.I'll take care of Agent Evens"  
  
*  
  
"Evens!!!!"  
  
Horatio didn't usually shout. Anybody who ever worked with him knew that. It wasn't that he never got angry - working in the line of work they did, seeing the things they did, you couldn't help getting angry every now and then. But he never yelled, on the contrary, he would talk quietly and slowly, like he wanted to make sure you understood every word.  
  
But now he was yelling.  
  
"What the hell are you trying to do? What the hell gave you the right to go into that crime scene before my forensics team?"  
  
"Horatio" Bailey;s voice remained neutral "If we're going to conduct this conversation would you mind not doing it here in the hall?"  
  
Horatio clenched his teeth but followed Evens into the nearest lab  
  
"I had a federal court order allowing me to be there Lieutenant Cain, I don't have to ask for your permission" Bailey said in a raised voice before Horatio was even all the way into the room.  
  
Horatio was about to answer back when Speed's head shot up, appearing just above the desk from where he was lying on the couch, mumbling "I'm up, I'm up.."  
  
Horatio and Bailey both became quiet and looked at him quizzically as he rubbed the sleep away from his eyes, and got up - heading over to the desk again. "I just finished going over the Hitchcomb file again - there's nothing there that could help us.It's all dead ends"  
  
"That's assuming we got everything on Hitchcomb." Horatio said, loud enough for Bailey to hear  
  
"Are you suggesting I'm deliberately holding out information crucial to this investigation?" Bailey asked angrily  
  
"Wouldn't be a first time would it?" Horatio retorted sarcastically  
  
"It was an official FBI undercover operation, there was no reason for you to know the details, there was no reason for me to jeopardize a case that has been in play for over a year."  
  
"You wanna go tell that to Mr. and Mrs. Summers? We could have had that kid back hours ago!"  
  
"I don't work for you Lieutenant Caine, I don't owe you an explanation!"  
  
"No, but when we find Kyle Summers you might owe one to him."  
  
"This case is under FBI jurisdiction, we run the show! We're using you team as a mean of convenience to make this case go more efficiently - but don't try to blame you incompetence on me. We can decide to take you and your team off this case whenever we want - don't you forget that"  
  
The phone rang and Speed picked it up, his eyes still fixed on the two man glaring each other down. He listened for a few seconds and then placed the phone back in it's cradle "That was Alexx - she and Jamie have something for us"  
  
*  
  
"So what have you got for us on the virus?"  
  
"Actually, we're still waiting for Alexx for a minute" Jamie replied "She's on the phone"  
  
"Did you identify the virus?" Bailey pressed and Jamie exchanged a look between him and Horatio - there was a vibe between the two men that she didn't like, but she couldn't figure out exactly what it was  
  
"We did" Alexx came back into the room along with Calleigh and Erik "I just got off the phone with a friend of mine that works at the CDC, we went to med school together. The virus we have is a unique strand of Malaria, he says that every strand of the disease can be traced back to a specific region and this strand - it comes from Africa. Namibia to be more accurate."  
  
"So we're looking for someone who went to Namibia and got Malaria."  
  
"Well not exactly" Alexx continued her show and tell "I sent him a few enhanced microscopic images of this ivrus and he says that what we're looking at isn't in fact a virus - it's a vaccine."  
  
"it makes sense" Jamie explained "Vaccines are often made out of a weakened form of the actual virus, it allows the body to create natural antibodies for the virus without the person showing symptoms of the actual disease"  
  
"How long do these Vaccines stay in the blood stream?" Horatio asked, his mind already racing to adjust all the information and figure out what it means for the case  
  
"Usually a couple of months - maybe three months - at the most" Alexx replied "My friend also said that everybody traveling to Namibia is required by the stated department to take a vaccine like that before they travel"  
  
"So we're looking for someone who's been to Namibia, in the last three month" Delko concluded  
  
"It doesn't help us much" Speed sighed "You know how many travel agencies there are in Miami? How many flights leave Miami for Africa every day? It's a needle in a hay stack."  
  
"Most people don't change travel agencies, it's like a bank or a dentist" Jamie shrugged "If this guy is using Roberto Cruz's agency for his other travel needs he might be using the same company for all of it"  
  
"We have Cruz's home and office computers - there's probably a client list on one of them" Calleigh volunteered from her place against the doorway  
  
"Check it out Call'" Horatio ordered "This might be the lead we were looking for"  
  
*  
  
"Hey Calleigh, I've got some coffee here for you." Tyler smiled as soon as she walked into the computer lab.  
  
"Oh god! You're an angel!" She sighed and dropped herself into a chair next to him  
  
"How many hours have you guys been up anyway?"  
  
"All I know is that I'm way to tiered to even calculate that right now" Calleigh scummbed to the urge to stretch and grabbed the coffee "What have you got for me Taylor?"  
  
"Well, you asked me to look for a client list on the computers so I've been going through the files on the computer you brought back from Cruz's home and the one we got earlier from his office - there's something interesting you should see."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Well, we have the client list from the office right here" he pulled up a file on the screen "and then there was a copy of it on the home computer" another file identical to the first appeared on a second screen.  
  
"So he had a copy at home - not exactly the discovery of the century" Calleigh teased  
  
"You give me absolutly no credit!" Tayler teased back "There's another file on the home computer, another client list, only this one was passward protected and encrypted. It didn't take much, this isn't exactly Enigma if you know what I mean. anyway, I managed to unscramble it. And this list isn't identical to the other two lists - it's a different list."  
  
Calleigh leaned in closer and took a more careful look of the three lists -the third list was obviously different - the names were different and written in some kind of abbreviation and so were the dates, account numbers, destination and prices "I thought you said you got rid of the encryption."  
  
"I did, this isn't encryption - it's some kind of short hand or something. The guy is not a fool" Tyler shrugged  
  
"Ok, you know what, print me up a copy of these, will you? I'll go over them" 


	18. Part 15

Well, yeah I know, you've already read this part... the thing is I was trying to go on with the story but couldn't because I wasn't really satisfied with this chapter and it kept bugging so much it was really killing my muse...  
  
So anyway... this is this part again, slightly re-written – and the next part is flowing quite nicely and should be up this weekend....  
  
Have fun BlackRaven  
  
PART 15  
  
*  
  
"This is hopeless" Erik tossed the papers aside in disgust and rubbed his temples "There's about a hundred names in here. we can't check them all."  
  
"Yeah I know" Speed sighed "When did Africa become such a hot vacation spot?"  
  
Erik didn't bother even nodding or smiling - he was way too tiered for any sort of reaction. Instead he turned his attention over to Calleigh who had been sitting quietly at the other side of the table for the past half hour, engrossed in her papers and occasionally jotting down something on her notepad.  
  
"You've been unusually quiet Cal' - what have you got there?"  
  
"I'm trying to decode the second list off of Cruz's computer. I figured if he went through the trouble of encrypting it, it must have something to do with the, shall we say, less then legitimate aspect of his business" Calleigh explained  
  
"How's it going?"  
  
"Not so good actually." Calleigh sighed "I could actually use some help."  
  
"Speaking of getting some help - where's Jamie?" Erik suddenly noticed the absence of their forth team member  
  
Calleigh just shrugged and went back to her papers, Speed however looked a little bit alarmed  
  
*  
  
Jamie sat on the floor with her back to the wall and took a deep breath, preparing herself. She reached out a hand and pulled down the file from the table above her placing it on the floor in front of her and staring at it for what seemed like forever.  
  
Finally she mustered up the courage to open the file and start reading it, taking look at the pictures over and over again, familiarizing her self with the facts. She took out a few pages and pictures out and spread them on the floor at her feet. When she finished that file she pulled another one off the stack the desk and went through it as well, then another one and another one.soon the floor at her feet was papered with pieces of the files, faces of different people looking back at her from the pictures. Young children and old men, all carrying deep scars that only she could see...  
  
"What are you doing?" the voice startled her and she nearly jumped out of her skin  
  
"Speed! God you scared me!"  
  
He took a seat beside her, leaning his back against the wall "What's all this?"  
  
"Pedophile cases, child abductions, molestations."  
  
"Boy, you sure know how to have a good time don't you?" he teased and she smiled faintly in response "You're making a profile aren't you? Even though Horatio said you didn't have to? You're doing it anyway?"  
  
"We can't afford to waste any time"  
  
"You shouldn't be doing this."  
  
"Tell me, Tell me there aren't more then 50 possible suspects on that client list and I'll stop this right now." she searched his face but he couldn't give her the answer she wanted "I have to do this Tim, we have to narrow that search."  
  
"Anything I can do to help?"  
  
"Stay here, stay in the room, just so I'll know you're here." she was almost whispering when she made her request, hating to sound so vulnerable. She knew he couldn't understand how frightening it was for her - no one did - not even H, he simply trusted her when she told him what it was doing for her, but he didn't really understand. It wasn't the horrors or the brutal scenes that flashed through her mind that she was so scared of - it was the understanding. The knowing that a part of her mind was able to understand what and why made these people do the horrible things they did. The ability to know them so closely and realize what made them tic was what scared her the most. But she couldn't explain that to anyone - especially not Speed and a part of her prayed that he would never ask.  
  
Speed simply nodded and got to his feet, moving to the other side of the room so she would have space enough to work but staying in her line of sight. He took a seat in a chair and made himself comfortable, not taking his eyes off her for even a second.  
  
Satisfied that he wasn't leaving, Jamie turned her attention back to the papers on the floor in front of her and started talking slowly in a hushed voice, mainly to herself "We're dealing with a quiet guy, he doesn't get into trouble, he goes mostly unnoticed, he works at a regular job, probably successful but he's been in the same position for years - he's not the kind of guy who gets promoted. He had a hard childhood, probably a broken home, most likely suffered some sort of sexual abuse as a child. If he's married then he doesn't have any kids – that's why he needs this boy - probably married to a woman who can't have children, and if that's the case he knew about it before the marriage. if he's not married then he hasn't had a girlfriend in years, no dates, no female friends, he has a lot of respect for women, he's afraid of them – that's why he didn't choose the girl... which means the abuse he suffered as a child was probably at the hands of a female"  
  
Speed kept listening as she continued listing off characteristics, occasionally stopping to pick up a report of look closer at a picture. little by little the man they were looking for was starting to take form in his mind.  
  
*  
  
Horatio sat behind his desk and went over the case file again and again, trying to find something they've missed, and trying to ignore Bailey Evens' constant pacing.  
  
"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" he asked testily "Some other case to sabotage?"  
  
Before Bailey had the chance to make his snappy comeback Calleigh rapped on the door and let herself in closely followed by Erik. "We think we have something."  
  
They both paused for a moment, casting suspicious glances at Bailey. They weren't sure if they could share their information with the FBI agent in the room but Horatio gave them a glance of approval to let them know they should go ahead and talk.  
  
"We think we finally managed to decode the second list - or at least part of it" Erik handed him a few papers "We think it lists the names of his clients as well as the amounts of money they paid him."  
  
"How do you know this is the list of his illegal operations?" Bailey questioned  
  
"We guessed" Erik retorted angrily but Calleigh placed a soothing hand on his shoulder to restrain him  
  
"The amounts" she explained quickly "They're way to high for just a vacation and the destinations are all third world countries where you can buy and use kids pretty easily, plus only half of each of these payments went into the travel agency's business account – the other half went into Cruz's private bank account"  
  
"The list doesn't have any names, just codes, but we crossed referenced the bank accounts where the money originated from with the original client list and managed to narrow our suspect list to about 10 people." Erik added  
  
"I think we could narrow that a little bit more" Speed's voice came from the doorway and he and Jamie joined the others in the office "We have a profile."  
  
Horatio turned to look at Jamie in surprise but she made it a point to avoid his look, while Bailey made it a point to send Horatio his most triumphant sneer - making sure Horatio knew he considered it a personal victory. But Horatio wasn't paying attention. He was more interested in looking carefully at Jamie, noticing how tiered she looked and how sad - noticing how Speed was the one to do the talking and the way he was standing in front of her - as if trying to protect her from the others.  
  
Calleigh took the handwritten pages from Speed and went through them quickly "I'll run these against our possible matches - see how many we can eliminate" she left the room and Erik followed her.  
  
Speed lingered behind but Jamie gave him a look and he nodded and left. For a moment both Horatio and Jamie stared at Bailey expectedly - waiting for him to get the hint.  
  
"Bailey, the guy we're looking for was probably molested as a child, he's probably not a registered sex offender, but either way I'm pretty sure he has some kind of juvenile record" Jamie sighed "You think you can check that out through the FBI database?"  
  
Finally Bailey took the bait and left them alone.  
  
For a few moments there was just silence... neither one of them prepared to be the one to open the conversation. Horatio was torn between being angry at her for going behind his back and being curious about her and Speed. Eventually he chose a third option...  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
He could see that she was a little thrown off by the concern in his voice, as if she expected him to be yelling and angry...  
  
"I'll be ok..."  
  
"I wish you wouldn't have had to do this..." he aid softly "I tried..."  
  
"I know you did" she cut him off "But it was my choice to make, you don't have to protect me H, I'm a big girl...I can take care of myself" she started heading out through the door but then looked back at him with a soft smile on her lips "But thanks anyway... thanks for trying" 


	19. Part 16

Part 16  
  
Horatio watched as the man was lead through the halls of the police station towards the interogation room accompanied by two uniformed officers. Behind them, Speed was holding a bag with the man's personal items. He broke off from the group and headed towards his boss.  
  
"Speed, is this our guy?"  
  
"We picked him up at work, the name is Ben Foster, he has a juvenile record for assault on a woman when he was 15, a history of sexual abuse as a child – he fits the profile and he's on Cruz's client list several times"  
  
"Any sign of the boy?" Horatio asked even though he didn't have to – his answer was written all over Speed's face  
  
*  
  
Calliegh picked up the phone on the first ring "Hey Erik"  
  
"How did you know it was me?" he sounded amused  
  
"Because I'm psychic, I have no life or friends...and oh yes, I have caller ID moron!" she laughed at him  
  
He laughed for a moment and then remembered the reason he called and became serious again "Speed told us you were over at Foster's house – did you get anything?"  
  
"Kiddie porn, lots of it" Calleigh didn't bother trying to hide her disgust "But no kid... We're still looking though, The FBI is practically tearing down the halls trying to find some secret hiding place where he might have stashed the kid – hidden closets, underground basements...whatever"  
  
"You think he's there?"  
  
"No, I've got to tell you, I don't think he ever was here..." Calleigh sighed. She saw Jamie coming up the stairs from the basement where they have been searching for hidden rooms for the past twenty minutes. Calligh threw her a questioning look but she shook her head in response. "The kid isn't here Erik, the FBI is done – they didn't find anything"  
  
"Ok. I'll tell H"  
  
"We're going to stay here for a while...see if we can find anything that tells us where he's keeping the boy"  
  
She clicked the phone shut and slid it into it's holster then knelt down by her kit and took out a pair of latex gloves, pulling them on their hands and throwing another pair across the room at Jamie. Silently they started working the room.  
  
*  
  
"Mr. Foster we know you have Kyle Summers" Horatio used every ounce of his self control in order to keep calm in front of the man who was sitting there with his nice suit and fake Rolex, smiling smugly.  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking about, I don't know anything about a boy"  
  
"Fine" Horatio sighed. Just once, he wished these low lives would save him the trouble of playing the "let's see who's smarter" game and tell the truth. "Then let's talk about you... starting recently, you were in Africa a little while ago - weren't you?"  
  
"A business trip." The man shrugged, playing with the wrist band of his watch, faking boredom "The company I work for has some import/export business there"  
  
"Did you receive a Malaria vaccine before your trip?"  
  
"It's a requirement - everyone who goes there has to get one"  
  
"Ok, lets go back a little further - you have a juvenile record for assault..." Horatio read from the file in front of him  
  
"Those records are supposed to be expunged once I turned 18..."  
  
"I guess someone thought it might come in handy someday" Horatio retorted sarcastically "There's also a mention of your mother in you juvenile record..."  
  
"what does my mother have to do with this?" The man in front of him showed the first sign of nervousness and Horatio couldn't help but smirk a little bit.  
  
"It says here you were put in foster care when you were 13, evidence of child abuse, probable sexual abuse..."  
  
"My mother loved me!"  
  
"Did she love you the way you love kids? Did she love to touch you the way you like to touch young kids?" Horatio started heating up "Did she make you do things? Did she force herself on you? Just like you forced yourself on Kyle?"  
  
Foster tried to lunge at him but the police officer by the door was quicker, pushing him back into his seat forcefully. He continued to glare at Horatio with pure rage in his eyes but didn't try to get up again.  
  
"Like I said" he spat "I don't know any Kyle..."  
  
*  
  
Speed left the window for the interrogation room and stepped into the DNA lad where the technician, Tracey, was busy looking through the microscope.  
  
"Hey Trace!"  
  
"Hey Speed, you look like you got run over twice!" she said cheerfully, too cheerfully for his tiered state  
  
"Thanks Trace, way to build up a guy's confidence"  
  
"What've you got for me?"  
  
He took out the bag he brought with Foster's personal items and peered inside, then pulled out a button shirt. "there's some sweat on this collar do you think you can get a DNA sample from it and match it to the semen we found on the sheets?"  
  
"Sure thing..."  
  
She started working, cutting a few small few pieces of the fabric and checking them under the microscope to see which one had the most clear signs of sweat. She picked one and started putting it in a special solution then into the centrifuge. It was only a few minutes later that she noticed Speed was still in the room. "You know that this could take a while don't you?"  
  
"Yeah, of course I do" but he made no indication of moving  
  
"So, you're just going to stand there and hover over me until I give you the answers aren't you?"  
  
"Pretty much yeah"  
  
*  
  
"I've got books here, some CD's, a pack of cigarettes..." Jamie chanted "A stack of credit card receipts – Gas, phone bill, groceries..."  
  
"Yeah, it's all very normal except for the vast collection of kiddie porn tucked away in the basement" Calleigh said in disgust.  
  
Jamie moved over to the bedroom and started opening drawers and checking their contents, then moved over to the closet and started going over the clothes and the shoes.  
  
"I have something here!" Calleigh called back from the other room and Jamie hurried over.  
  
"Look at these..." Calleigh handed over a small photo album of Foster, mostly alone, sometimes with various friends. "These look pretty recent..."  
  
"Well, these were taken right here at the house..." Jamie started pointing out pictures as she leafed through the album "There are a few at the beach... I don't know were these were taken..." she handed the album back to Calleigh and pointed to a specific picture for her to look at.  
  
"This looks like a pretty isolated place – do you think this guy would be stupid enough to hold a picture of the place where he's holding the kid?"  
  
"Hey, we can hope..." Jamie shrugged  
  
"I'll take this back to the lab and se if we can locate where this picture was taken"  
  
*  
  
He was home in his bed, sleeping, but for some reason the bed kept shaking, he tried to ignore it but it shook even more – finally Speed realized that it wasn't the bed that was shaking – in fact, he wasn't even in bed. He was at the lab, leaning against the desk – and Tracy was trying to shake him awake.  
  
"Speed!" se talked loudly, trying to get through as he attempted to cast off the last remnants of sleep "I have your results..."  
  
He was still rubbing his eyes trying to get them to stay open...trying to get himself to wake up  
  
"We have a match!"  
  
Those four little words did the trick – He was awake! 


	20. Part 17

Part 17  
  
Speed and Erik were waiting for them when Calleigh and Jamie got back to the lab with their hands full of evidence bags. The four of them walked down the hall together, updating each other on their findings until they reached the lab. Horatio watched them from his office at the upper level and smiled slightly to himself. He could see them in the lab through the glass walls, they operated like a well oiled machine – Calleigh was taking evidence items out of the bags and handing them over to Erik who logged them in his clipboard and handed them over to Speed and Jamie who then placed them under the microscope.  
  
When all the evidence was properly logged and ready for analysis the four of them broke off into groups and individuals – each taking a piece of the work. Calleigh and Jamie were hunched over the computer, Speed was still busy next to his microscope, Erik was over at the other side of the lab dusting something for fingerprints.

* * *

"Speed, what am I doing back here?" Calleigh took off her sunglasses and sent him a stern look of disapproval  
  
"We're taking another look..." Speed shrugged at her and continued to walk around the house "We have nothing so far, I figured it couldn't do any harm"  
  
"We should be back at the lab Speed!" Calleigh called out to him as she tried keeping up with his constant moving "This guy goes out on bail in about 2 hours and we have no way of knowing what happens then!"  
  
She followed him through the living room and the bedroom, into the kitchen and the out trough the back door into the small garden in the back of the house "Did you hear me? Are you even listening to me Speed?"  
  
"Yes and No" he smiled at her with a mischievous grin "I hear you, but I rarely listen!"  
  
She gave him a good smack on the arm for that, but had to chuckle at his antics. He walked off the wooden deck and onto the well kept grass, walking a few steps and crouching next to something. A few minutes passed as he checked something she couldn't quite see because his body was blocking her view.  
  
"Speed? Seriously, we should get back..."  
  
"I think I have something here..." his voice sounded thoughtful, as if he was still considering something so she quickly crossed the distance between them and joined him.  
  
There were a few items laying on the grass next to where he was crouched but she couldn't see what was so important about them.  
  
"Look at this..." he indicated. He lifted a bucket that was tossed on its side and pointed to the grass underneath it, then picked up a tire swing that was just under his feet and pointed at the grass underneath it too "The grass under the bucket is yellow and dead - which means that the bucket must have been lying here for a while, maybe even weeks."  
  
"And the grass underneath the tire is still green, which means the grass under it didn't have a chance to die from lack of exposure to the sun yet" Calleigh completed his train of thought "But what does that give us?"  
  
Speed suddenly rose to his feet and pulled out the phone from his belt pressing his speed dial "Hey, Erik? Did Jamie finish with the album yet? ...Good. Get H and Jamie and The feds and meet us in front of the lab in 15 minutes ok? I think I know where the kid is?"

* * *

Horatio, Jamie, Erik and Bailey were standing on the sidewalk when Speed screeched to a halt in front of them and quickly jumped out of the hummer. Horatio sent a questioning look at Calleigh but she simply shrugged back to indicate that she had no idea what all the fuss was about.  
  
Speed on the other hand grabbed the album Erik was holding and quickly placed it on the hood of the car, flipping the pages impatiently.  
  
"This is it!!!!" he finally exclaimed, pointing to a picture of their suspect standing in front of a house along with an older woman who seemed to be his mother. "In the background here... you see the swing?"  
  
Calleigh was the only one who finally realized where he was going with this and she grabbed the album from him hungrily, examining the picture closely.  
  
"We found the same tire-swing in the back yard of Foster's house..." Speed continued to explain for the benefit of those still trying to catch up.  
  
"Speed I know what you're thinking but that swing could have been moved weeks ago..." Horatio tried to let him down easily  
  
"No! you see this?" Speed took out a test tube from his pocket and swung it in front of Horatio's face "It's grass I took from under the tire, it's still green, it isn't dead from lack of exposure to sun yet. I had Alexx make a call to a friend of hers - he said that the grass would be showing signs of rotting as soon as 48 hours after you withhold sunlight... it means the swing has only been there for a couple of days... 3 days at the most, other wise it would have been showing first signs of decay"  
  
"3 days..." Erik took the test tube from Speed and looked at the grass in it "It puts him there in our timeframe"  
  
For a split second they were all quiet and looking at Horatio as he weighed in his possibilities.  
  
"It's as good a lead as anything we have so far. Foster gets out on bail in one hour, the minute he walks out of here he'll probably get rid of the kid.... We might as well give it a shot..."  
  
In a matter of second the whole group sprung into action, with out even waiting for Horatio's instructions. Bailey was on the phone arranging his team of FBI agents, Calleigh was on the phone with John Hagen giving him an update on the plans. Erik was arranging for a SWAT team to meet them at the location and Speed and Jamie were arranging for vehicles and police backup.

* * *

20 minutes later Horatio stood outside of an old house in one of the bad neighborhoods in Miami and watched as the SWAT team and the police officers prepare to storm the house. Beside him Erik was explaining something to the rest of the team, but Horatio's attention was elsewhere and he only heard bits and pieces.  
  
"This was Foster's home... before he got shipped to foster care and juvenile hall... his mother still lived here for...put on the market last year..."  
  
When the SWAT team leader finally gave the signal and the team members broke down the door, the entire team seemed to be holding their breath.  
  
Time seemed to spread on and on forever. A crowd of neighbors and curious onlookers began to build behind the police barricade. The FBI agents went in and preformed a sweep of the house, Bailey came out a few minutes later and shook his head - for a moment everyone sighed in disappointment.  
  
"Agent Evens! Over here!"  
  
The entire crowd turned his attention to the far end of the yard where a young SWAT member indicated at a pair of doors leading to an old bomb shelter that was typical for old houses of this kind. A swarm of agents and police officers ran over, forgetting protocol and procedure. This time, the entire crowd seemed to be holding his breath.  
  
Finally Bailey came out carrying a bundle wrapped in a blanket, with a blond head visibly peaking from it.  
  
"Hey Kyle..." Horatio smiled at the little boy as Bailey brought him by on the way over to the ambulance "It's ok Buddy, it's ok... you're going home...." 


End file.
